Dragon Wars
by MaraJadeblu
Summary: Contains Romance... This is an actually good, non-OOC, fantasy GW fic!! Just try Chap 1! (GW pilots fight a war against OZ kingdom and slavery. contains mecha-dragons) Chapter 16 up! *Map in chapter 12 on*
1. The Fairy Curse.

'Me' is pronounced with a short 'e' sound and I'm going to have some other words in the languages I choose throughout the fic. This was really fun to write and the next part should be out soon.   
  
  


Dragon Wars

  
  
    It was a beautiful day on the road from Alicana to Doomak. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, foreigners that didn't speak basic walked along, talking to imaginary people. A nice, quiet day, except for all the curses that no one knew were curses because they were in another language flying through the air. A historical, normal day; except that it was the first day of the New Year of the year 807 in Aldaraania.   
    The road was mostly unraveled for most who supported the Zodiac Kingdom's rule were celebrating the New Year. Alicana and Doomak were city-states under the Zodiac Kingdom. In return for protection from the Northern Kingdom the city-states to the west of the Zodiac capital and the south of the fallen Sanc Kingdom agreed to be ruled over by the King of the Zodiac Kingdom, Treize Kushrenada.   
    If one were traveling from Alicana to Doomak then they might just see a foreigner from the Far East, with chin length straight and shiny black hair pulled back. He had on a white silk suit with almost invisible silver designs that shined through when light hit the traveler. When one saw his face they could tell he was a foreigner even more so. He had slanted black eyes and fuller lips, his nose was rounder than most in the 'states. Most of the time foreigners caught traveling alone (or seemingly so) in the 'states would be captured by bandits and sold into the slave trade.   
    But there were a few things that prevented this. First of all, unlike almost all the 'state public who were not allowed to, this man carried a weapon. Strapped to his back was a large thick sword called a katana in his language. It looked heavy, but he carried it with practiced ease.   
    Secondly, they _had_ tried to capture him… word had spread that it was not to be tried, namely because of the katana he had strapped to his back. Lastly, when he was seen on the dirt road, traveling slowly westward many edged away from him because every so often he would pause, with a look of extreme annoyance, and start yelling loudly in a foreign language to the air above his head.   
    If one was able to understand the vibrations on which faeries speak then one may have heard responses, given how open or closed-minded they were. But as for the normal people that avoided the foreigner, they are not so misfortunate. Those who do not wish to believe in faeries have no hope of seeing them; such is the case with unicorns and ghosts.   
    Normally, this is so, however, one foreigner traveling the streets is plagued with the fairy gift.   
    "Are we there yet?"   
    "No."   
    "Are we there yet?"   
    "No."   
    "Are we there yet?"   
    "No!"   
    "Are we-" Wufei made a grab for the small flying creature but his slow hand missed against the beating of her wings. She was beautiful, for a person of six inches tall. She wore a green and gold robe, the gold having her family design in the center. The arms were very loose and came down in a triangle shape the ends were so enlarged. The robe ended above her knee and revealed her tan skin with small floppy green boots. She had wavy black hair that came to her shoulders and had a lot of volume that made her look less eastern that the stiff man from the East she traveled with, his hair was slick with no volume at all. Almost invisible were her darks violet eyes that slanted like Wufei's and pointed ears as an elf. She flitted around the annoyed companion using her glossy wings and landed on his other shoulder.   
    "Annoying insect! Begone! Must you travel with me so? Of all the faeries to be stuck with, I get you!" Wufei continued. She gasped and then pounded on his shoulder with tiny fists, secretly hurt more that she let on.   
    ""Tis not so much fun to be stuck to you as well, o stubborn incompetent, unbelieving one!" She stood and kicked his collar, then walked defiantly to the tip of his shoulder to face her back to him.   
    "Shut up! You brought this upon yourself, and," he sputtered, "incompetent?! Who is incompetent, I did not use my magic to defy the elders!"   
    "No! You low and cheap scum! You used your pure _incompetence_ to defy the elders!" She yelled out towards the woods she faced, but loud enough for him to hear her.   
    Wufei slumped a little and did not argue with her. "Yes… maybe I deserve this punishment…" he said sadly. The fairy glanced behind her to look at his solemn face. Wufei began to move forward again.   
    She looked forward again defiantly and tried not to glance back. She failed and turned around to cheer him up. "O! Wufei the mighty… master of nobility, everyone afmires him, he so handsome it's a sin!"   
    "Shut up."   
    "When you're in jeopardy, caused by the enemy, although he doesn't work for free-" She began dancing along.   
    "Shut up!"   
    "When things get quick, we'll make it on the gip! When-"   
    "SHUT UP MERLAIN!" A man pulling a cart full with rice stopped to stare at the insane foreigner.   
    "My _NAME_ is not Merlain! It's Meiran!"   
    "Fine, Mary Ann…"   
    "Meiran!" She kicked his collar.   
    "Merian?"   
    "Meiran!" She screamed.   
    "Meirela?" Wufei tried to hide a grin.   
    "You are doing this on purpose!" She tried to fly away and when she was about ten feet above him an invisible force pulled her back. Wufei held out his hand and she landed on it with a thud. "I hate this!" She yelled as loudly as she could. She pounded her small fists into Wufei's palm; he didn't look at her and continued to walk.   
    "That tickles," he said and glanced amusedly at her but when he saw her face he stopped and looked at her seriously.   
    He small face was no longer angry, but very, very solemn. He thought she might cry but corrected himself; he had never and would never see Meiran cry, she was too strong for that. "What did he mean?" she asked herself, she wrapped her arms around her own legs and sighed.   
    "Huh?" Wufei lifted his palm so that it was level with his face and looked at her… _she's beautiful._   
    "I asked the elder what I had to do to regain my powers," she started, "and he answered me: 'When thy heart learns love for another than thyself, the curse will be lifted. You may find that you no longer care… that is when you are ready. Selfish are those who have not learned of loss, so loose your powers you shall.' I have figured out the meaning but it makes no sense. Must I find a true love?" She stood and then flitted over to Wufei's shoulder once more, which started rocking as he began to walk.   
    "I do not believe that is what it meant for that is what mine is and they would not stick two of opposite sex together who were both looking for love on a journey, it is too easy." Wufei shifted his pack and glanced at Meiran.   
    "What is yours?" Meiran asked one of the many questions going through her mind.   
    "'Thou will be free from punishment when you know of true love. Your heart is cold and closed. Many a time have you rejected those who talked of marriage and you shall learn the value of love's strength.' I need to find a true love," he glared at an invisible elder.   
    "Me, it does not seem as though either of us is very likely to fulfill our quest. I live for myself that is all that is necessary, it is true, and I am too selfish to love." She sniffed, "You have hardened your heart and have become self-absorbed. We are doomed to be bound together forever!" She sat back down on the soft white cloth.   
    "I believe we are both capable of loving… don't you?"   
    "This coming from a man that just confessed his love to me? Yes!" She sat up and did a victory dance singing, "Go Meiran, its your birthday, go Meiran-"   
    "When did I do that?!"" Wufei stopped and spun around. Merian fell off his shoulder and righted herself in the air, hovering there.   
    "You said it would be too easy for us to fall in love if we had the same quest!" She said happily.   
    "Fairy demon! Off with you! You do this to annoy me to no end, don't you?!" He began to chase her around his body, cupping his hands to catch her but she always flew out of his reach. She gave him a raspberry and pulled down an eyelid.   
    One of the travelers on the road started to run back the way they came when they saw the insane foreigner yelling at and invisible demon in a foreign language.   
    Sigh.   
  
  
Yay me! I do not own Gundam Wing or Xena: Warrior Princess. (Although I wished I did.) That is how I pictured them, if they were tied together and Meiran was still alive. What do you think? 


	2. Kidnapped.

    I don't own Gundam Wing. This is so fun to write! I wasn't gonna write it because I was so busy but now I'm writing it no matter what, I don't care if it's bad! Mwahahahahaha! Um, 'nata' and 'aah' are not english words, 'aah' is an affirmative answer, but not a response to being called. 'nata' is to be taken by context, aka, I dunno.   
    I need a muse… I would say Fin Fish, but she annoys me, Babbit scares me, Mokona is a bouncing marshmallow, Callisto would probably kill me, Tibet is my dog… I don't have any cute characters in my novel… I'll get back to you on this.   
    Oh! And let us no forget ZiG, Zechs is God.   
  


Dagon Wars

  
  
    As Zechs Marquise strode down the hallway, people moved out of the way. He was a Baron that one did _not_ mess with. And he looked angry, very, very angry. He headed down the main hall and servants took to the wall for him.   
    He had noble blue eyes underneath the white helmet he wore. White wisps of his hair came out from under the bottom of his helmet in uneven strands, it gave him a rugged and sexy look. Most servants took to the wall, some female servants took to the wall and then wooed over him.   
    With his every step there was a clang of his sword against his belt, which stopped with a jingle as he reached his destination. There was a large wooden door with gold trimmings and busts of former kings on wither side. Zechs raised a hand to knock on the door but it opened before he was given the chance. He wore light silver armor on his shoulders and shins, underneath was a dark blue, almost black velvety material and high black boots. He also wore a white blouse that tucked into his pants with a black wrap and a blue overcoat with gold buttons. This was the uniform for high-ranking officials.   
    "Lady Une," he said expressionlessly, "I am here to speak to King Treize." Lady Une, clad in the same style uniform only in tan glared at him but stepped aside. He brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and her sharp, slanted brown eyes were hidden in the dark. "Thank you." He walked past her without a second glance and bowed on his left knee before the king. All that was seen was the back of the King's chair behind his desk.   
    The desk was made out of expensive would and sanded down to the finest point, the back of the chair showed where the red cushion connected to the board. Slowly it turned to reveal King Kushrenada of the Zodiac Kingdom and Zechs raised his head. "Hello, my friend, please, you may stand." Zechs stood with a couple of metallic clangs. "What's wrong?"   
    Zechs began to pace. "I cannot find my sister," he said under his breath.   
    Treize furrowed his brow, "You keep tabs on her? I had no idea… But of course, she is your sister, when did you tell her?"   
    Zechs looked up at the king, "I didn't," he stated plainly.   
    "Nata… She doesn't know? That's horrid, what do you think happened to her?" Treize sat forward and indicated for Zechs to take a seat.   
    There was something about the way he said that that caught Zech's attention. _What is he pulling?_ "I believe some one found out her true identity and kidnapped her… or worse. Can you help me, old friend? I need to find her." He stood up yet again and Treize stood with him.   
    "Me, Zechs, you cannot go!" Treize said harshly.   
    Zechs spun to meet his king's eyes, "What? I will find my sister, my King."   
    Treize walked around the table to stand in front of the other. "The forces in the south have started to gather. They believe the New Year will bring autonomy for the city-states. When they attack Jinzabu I need you to defend the border, you are the best we have."   
    Outside the door Lady Une growled.   
    "Yes, you know I would but my sister-"   
    "I will assemble the best search team ever and have them search the ends of the kingdom for you. Will you lead my troops?" Treize asked.   
    Zechs hesitated; _there is something wrong. _"Aah, I will lead the troops. Thank you, your majesty." Zechs turned on his heel and left with a bow. As he passed Lady Une he heard her snicker and wondered about it. Before he could stop and question her the King called her in. Then he was out of hearing range.   
    Lady Une stepped in the office and closed the door after her. "My lord, you wished to speak with me?" She smiled and bowed.   
    Treize sat back down in his chair and indicated for Lady Une to do the same. He rested his head in his hands and peered at her amusedly. "Where is she? You didn't kill her, did you?"   
    Lady Une laughed, "No, she was sold to the southern trade."   
    "That's where Zechs is headed."   
    "Aah, I am sorry my lord, but I thought _I_ was leading the troops to the south." She sat back in her seat and crossed her legs.   
    "Killing her would have been more kind. Why not the north? Also, what about Dorlian?" Treize questioned. _Did she disobey my orders again?_ He sighed mentally.   
    "I felt that if she were in the north that she might regain her thrown, I tried to keep her as far away from the Sanc Kingdom as possible." She smiled maliciously, "Dorlian is dead."   
    Treize looked at her with shock and then sighed. "That is not what I instructed. Now Zechs will know who kidnapped her."   
    "But he's going to be in the south!" Lady Une protested, _He doesn't agree with my actions? But… he must! I do it for him!_   
    "No he won't. He will lead the troops south but he knows now. He will split off and search for his sister." Treize stood so, by etiquette, so did Lady Une. "Can you correct this?"   
    "Aah! Aah, I can. I will send my best student to find her first. Before the troops leave." She brushed off her pants and held back tears of frustration easily.   
    "That is?"   
    "Dorothy Catalonia."   
  
  
Dun Dun DUN! I'm leaving for camp a week early so I'll probably put up as much as possible. This may be confusing, but it will clear up. Here's a kinda map: All the way to the north west corner of Aldaraania is the Northern Kingdom, it has spread through the north center of the continent. Just below that are the remnants of the Sanc Kingdom, just a sliver in the northernish middle. From north to south in the East is the Zodiac Kingdom; all the other parts of the continent except the middle south and the Middle West are city-states. In the middle and west south is the Southern Kingdom. A very long and thick river leading into the southern gulf is to the east of the Zodiac Kingdom, it separates the Zodiac Kingdom from the other Eastern Empires. There you have it. Review. 


	3. Slavery.

:sniff: Poor ppl.   
  


Dragon Wars

  
  
  
    Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.   
    Relena felt something poke her in her ribs but all she could hear was the dripping, all she wanted to hear was the dripping. All people her age had selective hearing, right?   
    Drip. Drip. … …   
    When her only form of concentration during consciousness ceased she opened one eye. There was a bit of crust in the corner and she wondered how long she had been asleep. Afraid to move, she looked around with her one eyeball.   
    There was a wood ceiling with rotting beams, probably caused by the water seeping through the poorly made whatever-she-was-in. There was some straw on her face and it tickled her in an annoying way so she tried to blow it off. When she failed, she lifted one arm to brush it away; or tried to.   
    The pain that shot from her armpit to her waist emitted a groan from her lips. She heard some shuffling. And tilted her head slightly in the direction of the source. There scrounged a young woman who she would have thought was beautiful except her hair was in a frightfully matted nest upon her head and she wore very skanky rags.   
    At the sound of Relena's groan the girl looked up frightfully at Relena and smiled with her yellowing teeth. Relena gasped at her appearance but her intake of every breath hurt her sore chest. _Did they beat me?_   
    "You are awake," the girl, who revealed to be from the east judging by her slanted eyes and black hair. What really surprised Relena was the collar she had on… a slave's collar. Her eyes widened and she tried to feel if she had a collar on as well but her hand fell lifelessly to her side in exhaustion.   
    "Do not move. You have been drugged." The girl took a rag from the straw covered floor and dipped it in a barrel that was too tall for Relena to see what was inside. The girl took the cool cloth and laid it gently on Relena's forehead, which made her groggy but she would not give in.   
    "Who?" Relena tried to speak, the effort reminded her of her parched throat and she suddenly felt extremely nauseous and dry mouthed.   
    "Shh." The girl left the cloth on Relena's head and went back to the barrel, she returned with a ladle full of… water? Gently the girl lifted Relena's back and propped her against her own legs so that Relena wouldn't choke on the water about to be fed to her. Chances are she would have choked any way because the water was a muddy brown color not fit for humans.   
    Relena weakly tried to turn her head in refusal but the girl touched the ladle to her lips and Relena suddenly felt very thirsty. She gulped the (water) down greedily and immediately felt like gagging. After swallowing the whole ladleful she tasted the aftertaste of river water.   
    Knowingly the girl turned Relena on her side and let her throw the water back up, along with some orange fluid that Relena didn't remember drinking. "That is what they drugged you with," the girl said solemnly, "My name is Kira. It is best that you threw _that_" she indicated the orange fluid, "up. Now you will start to feel stronger and you might have a fight in you when they come."   
    Relena coughed hoarsely and turned back to Kira with another groan. "Who?"   
    "The traders," Kira answered. She seemed very sad and mournful. Her voice dropped to a sad whisper, tears welled in her eyes. "They will come to test you out before selling you."   
    Relena moved her legs for the first time and cringed, she had been sweating. Sweat was such a disgusting- Relena stopped her train of thought when she looked around. The place was infested with bugs and rats, she could see them buzzing around and hear the squeaks from unknown parts if the room. There was a bucket filled with waste in the corner and no bed to speak of. The floor was covered in straw; some of it now had puke clumping it together.   
    Her friend, with a closer look, was smeared with all kinds of bodily fluids and her 'clothes' were ripped so that she was not properly covered from the waste down, Relena looked away and down at herself. She had been stripped of her clothes and most likely hand washed by this girl, she was lying then on a piled of hay that bit into her back and was covered only with a matted and used fur skin.   
    Relena's hair was plastered to her head from the stiflingly humid and smelly air. She tried to brush it away and was again reminded of the pain all through her torso. The words she had heard finally sunk into her muddled brain. She gasped and then swallowed down some more acidic puke.   
    "Nata, you don't mean…" Tears welled up in Relena's eyes as well, "I won't let them!" With each word she felt more nauseous and a lump formed in her throat. "I won't! I won't let- I won't… I-" Her voice cracked. She imagined how horrible it would be… and how mortifyingly demeaning.   
    Kira cried silently as well, "You are one of the pretty ones, they will sell you soon and you'll be more free than here. I was pretty once, they sold me but after the trade they captured me again, I haven't been freed truly…"   
    "I am nobility, they wouldn't… to me? Would they?"   
    "You are a woman, and this is the Zodiac Kingdom, that is all that matters to them."   
    "Not this time." Relena attempted to stand up and fell down again. She rolled to her side with a moan and threw up a little more.   
    "I admit, you are more resistant and strong than the others I have been with, but you do not know their strength. Give up now, we all eventually do," Kira patted her on the back as she coughed deeply.   
    "How long do we have?" Relena asked hoarsely. She pulled herself into a sitting position.   
    Kira glanced through one of the cracks in the wood, "We have until tomorrow night, they will not suspect you have been awake yet. That is about eleven hours."   
    Relena was beginning to fall asleep, "Wake me up in nine hours…" she mumbled sleepily. Sleep was escape from reality.   
  
  
    This is the third chapter I have both posted and wrote today. I have run out of opening and endings. I do not own Gundam Wing.


	4. Seekers of the Prophesy.

I am leaving for camp tomorrow morning and I am leaving for the dance in ;ess than an hour, lets see what I can write…   
  
  
    Sally looked around cautiously. _So this is what the Southern Republic is like, huh?_ She was in a hanger for the troops that were preparing to be sent into the 'states. There weren't many troops, dressed in green tunics and armor, which was why, she remembered, she was here.   
    She stopped before the head of operations, Doctor J.; next to her was another girl she had seen once before, they had brought her in from a slave run, the poor girl. That was also why she was there. She didn't agree with slavery, but she also didn't think that a war should be started. Too many deaths, as a doctor herself, she couldn't help but feel compassion for _all_ who died, not just those on the non-slavery side.   
    She glared at the insane man before her; he was no doctor that was for sure. Being a doctor didn't just mean that you knew how to birth a baby or heal wounds, being a doctor meant one actually cared about people being cured and healed. There was not supposed to be such discrimination to patients. Oh, and she knew. She had seen the small bunch of soldier that came back from a slave run. Yes, they had saved the slaves, but the slave traders… who were badly burned, who she could have helped had they allowed her… they were murdered.   
    _No, two wrongs do not make right!_ she stamped her foot and said, "Doctor J., you cannot keep me here against my will. I will not help you."   
    He raised an eyebrow, "You do not seem to conceive, the time for the prophesy has come, we need the guides to search for their Dragon Pilots, and you, Ms. Po, are one of them. Once they are returned and the Dragons have been found and awakened, the war will end quickly. That is what you want, yes?"   
    "This war is a bad idea, you can't win! Relying on that forsaken prophesy will kill thousands, 'you vision' is insane. That prophesy died with the old Sanc Kingdom and you are no longer an advisor to the king. 'Mystical powers' my ass! If you cannot accomplish this without my cooperation then do _not_ expect me to cooperate!" Sally stamped her foot and glared at the clawed man.   
    He chuckled to himself. "Your lack of faith is not alone, nor was it not anticipated. You _will_ help us, one because you have no choice," he held up a finger and began to count off, "two, because you know what the Zodiac Kingdom is doing is wrong and three, because if we _don't_ stop Treize with this war he will not stop here. He will expand into the Dwarven countries, the Elven countries and eventually, the eastern continent."   
    He waved a hand and suddenly Sally was surrounded by soldiers armed with crossbows. Sally looked for an opening but saw none and gave in. "What is needed of me?" she asked. _He has points, it is not just my life, but a fast war will stop from years of conquering and I'm, not entirely sure that the east can hold the Zodiac off without that technology._   
    "What of you, girl?" The slave looked up defiantly for the first time. She had curly brown mahogany hair and cold blue, life drawn eyes. She wore somewhat more appropriate rags than the ones she was brought in with but she was silent and immobile until now.   
    "I would do anything, _anything_ to end the Zodiac Empire. And my _name_ is _Catherine_."   
    Sally gasped, she had heard how slaves were treated… but it didn't sound half as bad as when she looked into this girl's eyes and saw the pain. "Good, here is what you must do. This is your destiny, Sally, you must find and bring back '**the foreigner with a lost soul and a fairy curse**," he moved on to Catherine. Sally gave him a skeptical look, _he's kidding, right? Fairy Curse? Insane old bastard with weird eyes and a claw for a hand, can't trust anyone these days…_ she continued to complain mentally. "You must return with '**the nameless Dwarven man**' so it is written in the prophesy. Report to G. for supplies, I must be going now…   
    He walked away and Sally steamed, she tried to maul him but an arm held her back, Catherine's arm. "Let's go." Sally glanced back angrily as she was led away. She saw a messy brown haired boy approach J.   
    "Yes, Heero?" J. said as he limped away. "Back already? That's a good soldier." Heero glared at him.   
    "Your next assignment is to find the woman that is your key to unlocking you Dragon-"   
    "Why? There is no point in following this prophesy, we should just attack." Heero glared at him.   
    "Do as you are ordered, nothing more, nothing less. Now go." Heero glared at him; he then turned around sharply and stalked off.   
       
    I know it's short but I g2g now! Bai! :waves: (Review!) 


	5. Quatre of Cuatrica.

    Camp was great, I had so much fun! (And no time to write) ah! Gomen, don't hurt me!   
  
    Dragon Wars part 5   
  
    As the young noble walked through the marketplace he got many different reactions, none of which he noticed. Some of the younger girls selling flowers for money muttered about how they would love to marry him and bear his children. He was damn lucky he didn't hear that either because he would have passed out from the nosebleed. The girls never approached him though because they thought he was too rich to touch, they knew their place.   
    But anyway, other, richer, more refined girls at the marketplace who were just going out for a stroll because they could afford to not work thoughts he was a bit to rugged and not down to earth and realistic enough. They still fawned over him sometimes though because he was so charming and gentlemanly at social events. Another plus was he was rich himself, and clean, and handsome.   
    Ahem, the boys of the market and town were mainly pissed at him. He got all the girls, rich or poor, he was rich, and his family was the main moneymaker for the town and had a lot of influential political power. However, some of them were nice to him because he had twelve sisters and his would be an ideal family to marry into.   
    Quatre was left with a lot of shallow uncaring friends and a dream. This dream was why he was heading through the market. He had important news to tell his father. The rather short platinum haired boy with medium build walked briskly through the market, ignoring all else but his goal. His kind aqua eyes shined with hope for the future under his royal blue light cape. What he was wearing underneath was mostly hidden except for his tan skin pants that were rather loose and had slits up the sides up to his knees, which was the style at the time.   
    While walking swiftly Quatre saw a young girl selling a basket of apples. He picked one up, spun around, threw a gold coin to her and continued on his way. Well, he tried to but a few paces away he saw a blind beggar on his knees with a dented pewter cup, asking for money. _How convenient that the tavern is so close,_ Quatre thought. When he took a second look at the man he couldn't help but notice the tattered, dirty clothes he probably found in a waste pile. They were the only things hiding his thin, weak body event though Quatre could tell.   
    Quatre approached the man and his balding, gray haired head whipped around, searching for the new presence. Quatre kneeled in front of him and laid his right hand with an outstretched arm on the old man's left shoulder. "Relax, elder. I have no drinking money for you but you do look hungry. So," Quatre held out the apple with his other hand after polishing it off on his cloak, "an apple for you today, why not put that money to some better use?" He put the apple in the man's hand and tried to stand up.   
    The blind other grabbed his arm in mid-stand. "By Nata, I thank you, kind mage," he let go and Quatre stood.   
    Quatre smiled, "My friend, I'm no mage, good day." Quatre continued on his way cheerfully after shaking off the strange feeling being called a mage gave him.   
    He walked down the dirt streets lined with commercial carts until he came to the more village-like part of town. The variety of houses, like the people consisted of the poorer wooden sheds with straw roofs to the barns and large houses for farmers and richer families and finally to the two or three large Stone homes with large areas of land surrounding and scattered housing for the servants there. Quatre lived in one of those.   
    He walked into the large stone house through the heavy wooden doors to be met with a familiar and pleasant setting. One of the servants met him at the door and took his cloak to reveal a white blouse and matching tan vest. "Thank you Lovac." He headed up the stairs to the second floor, searching for his father. On his was there he passed one of his sisters, Iria.   
    "Hello brother," the tall blonde woman said in a kind voice. She wore a pastel orange dress and her short curly hair was down.   
    "Hello," Quatre responded while still walking, "is father in his study?" She nodded and grabbed his shoulder to stop his movement.   
    "You've been gone quite some time. Father was very worried and we all missed you. He's not in the best of moods right now, I think I'll come with you." They began walking down the hall slowly together. "How was it down south?"   
    "How did you know?" Quatre asked aghast. He looked down and then up again. "It was a sad trip. As suspected the slave trade does decrease the farther towards the Republic one goes but where there was Zodiac presence I heard many stories."   
    "I can imagine," Iria said softly. "It was probably dangerous too. But… what did you find?" Their pace slowed to a halt and they looked at each other.   
    "I found," Quatre whispered, "that the S.R. is prepared to attack. They have gathered troops even though I didn't go far enough east to see them. But," he started walking again with a large smile, "They do need new recruits. My chance to fight the Zodiac Kingdom is come!"   
    Iria gasped, she covered Quatre's mouth with her hand, "Don't say that so loud!" She sighed, "Um, do you know that Cuatrica allied with the Zodiac kingdom while you were gone?"   
    "What?" Quatre stopped again and looked in shock to his sister.   
    "The town council decided that before the war started so near to them that they wanted support from the stronger side. They want father to give tribute to Zodiac. You mustn't talk like that, who knows what political supporters of Zodiac are here to speak to father."   
    "He declined then?" Quatre asked. "I know he would never ally with slave traders and slaughterers."   
    "Well…" Iria hesitated.   
    Quatre looked at her perceptively, "What? Father would not ally with Zodiac," he said forcefully.   
    "Of course he wouldn't but I don't think he'll let you join S.R. It will uproot the council, which is already upset with him. You know he doesn't believe the war will help," she whispered. They had stopped once again outside the study.   
    "We'll find out now, won't we?" Quatre said angrily as he opened the door and stepped inside.   
    The study was large and square with bookshelves lining all the walls. At the other end there was a table with various papers spread across the top. The wall behind the desk was actually a balcony that had large crimson curtains pulled open to the sides and a large wooden chair that looked expensive enough from the back that one could tell it had cushions.   
    "Hello Quatre," his father said without looking up.   
    Quatre tried not to roll his eyes at his father's mysterious ability to sense him. "Hello Father," Quatre said respectfully.   
    Iria took a cautious step beck. "Welcome back," Mr. Winner said bitterly. "Have fun?" he finally looked up to stare at his son, who gave him an equally strong-willed stare.   
    "You may not understand, but you shouldn't hate everything that you don't understand!" Quatre blurted out, he blushed slightly at the uncalled for outburst.   
    "What I understand," his father replied in that scary, calm voice all parents seem to acquire once their kids can talk, "is that you took money, a map and camping gear, disappeared for two weeks, and from what I hear you waltz back in here with news from the Southern republic?"   
    Quatre's eyes widened, "You know?"   
    "I'm your father, and I know what your thinking and I'll tell you now, no." His father went back to work, thinking Quatre would respect his-   
    "You haven't even heard me out!" Quatre yelled. He stormed up to the desk and waited for his father's attention.   
    "That's the last time I'll allow you to disrespect me. I'm your father, show respect or get out!" his father looked up angrily.   
    Quatre breathed some healing breaths before he began again in his naturally calm and cheery voice. "Soon I'll be drafted by the council for war, only I'll be on the Zodiac side. Not helping the Southern Republic is the same thing as supporting slavery and tyranny. War is a horrible thing, but in order to end this, I believe it must happen. If I'm to fight anyway, I _will_ be on the S.R. side." Quatre looked down at his father and put on a determined face.   
    To his surprise, his father stood up, much taller than Quatre, and slammed his fist down on the table, "Over my dead body. As long as you are living under my roof, you will abide by my rules. Death and war is not something I will support, and not something I will allow my son to support either. I have worked so hard to gain a position where I could stop this war from happening in Cuatrica, my _son_ will not join the war effort. He. Will. Not." They stood there, in the dim light, facing each other eye to eye.   
    Quatre turned to show his profile to his father and narrowed his eyes at the wall. With his chin up and his arms crossed he said mysteriously, "That's why Cuatrica is taking sides, is it now?"   
    Defeated, not by Quatre, but in general, Mr. Winner sat down slowly and sighed. "I can't change people's _minds_ Quatre, orders don't do that and neither do violence, money or war. They change people's opinions, but the only thing that changes people's minds are actions." He turned to face Quatre, "So you see, you're actions be interpreted as my wishes, I can't let you do this."   
    Quatre clenched his fits tightly, he knew his father was right, but it wasn't fair that he only be an extension of his father. It was so limiting… frustrating. Slowly as his fists unclenched he let a sigh out between bared teeth. He did not turn away from his father; instead he faced him once again, only by turning his head.   
    For the first time in a long time he noticed how tired his father looked. He relaxed his posture a little and his father's eyes became warmer, seeing that his son finally understood and accepted but did not agree with, his decision.   
    The comforting smell of wood lingered in the air and the feeling of being home was increased by the sunlight streaming in through the window. Beams of light struck the floor at Quatre's feet, he really did feel glad to be home. His father looked at him, in his kind eyes the same feeling shown clearly. Quatre began to reproach his father. "You look tired, anything else exciting happen while I was gone?"   
    His father smiled warmly back at him, "You took all my material. Not really, I have a meeting coming up tomorrow about allying with the Zodiac Kingdom but you've already heard about how much progress I'm making there. Aha, that's right, did you know that Iria is getting married in the fall?" Mr. Winner puffed up proudly.   
    Quatre beamed, "Really, she didn't tell me about it! Who's she marrying? Wait don't tell me…" He looked thoughtful and put his finger under his chin, tilting his head cutely.   
    "Father… Quatre!" Iria yelled from behind the door, she blushed furiously but smiled, not only because of her joy, but because her family was acting normal again.   
    Quatre grinned mischievously at her and pointed, "It's Lord Gabriel, isn't it?"   
    Iria's eyes widened and she stomped towards her brother, she looked angry enough to smack him and when she got close enough to do so Quatre cringed. _I guess I got that wrong._ However, when he reopened his eyes she was smiling, "How did you guess?" she asked sweetly.   
    "Well you guys were always flirting." Quatre stated.   
    "What?!" mr. Winner yelled in the background.   
    Iria blushed again, "You noticed?" she asked softly.   
    Quatre took a stance and imitated his sister's voice, "Oh, Gabriel, you are too charming," he then made the gesture of kissing someone on the hand.   
    "I don't sound like that!" Iria screeched embarrassingly.   
    Quatre's father had appeared behind them and put a hand on Quatre's head to mess up his hair, "Dad…" he complained and gave him a sideways glance.   
    "No matter how big you talk, you're still a kid." His father laughed.   
    "Hey!"   
    "A short, immature, teenage kid." His father picked Quatre up from his back despite Quatre's pathetic resistance as he flailed his limbs frantically. Whenhe was put down all three of them were laughing to the point they couldn't breathe.   
    Quatre turned back to his sister and smiled gratefully, wiping his messed up hair out of his eyes. "But really," Iria turned back to him and cocked an eyebrow, "I'm very happy for you." Iria smiled and Quatre came towards her for a slow hug. Above them suddenly their father embraced the both of them.   
    When they broke apart Quatre's father was sniffing, they looked up and him and he wiped away a tear. "I'm sorry, but my little baby's are growing up…"   
    They looked seriously at him for no more than two seconds before cracking up once more. "I think," Iria suggested, "We should have a feast tonight to celebrate my brother's return, my engagement and Father's well being."   
    "Hear hear!"   
    "Definitely!"   
  
  
Yay people! I'm back and so is this fic! I know it took a long time, and honestly I don't have a set date for when I will finish each chapter for you but for a long time I didn't know where I was going, and now I do. Keep checking! 


	6. The History of the World (Part 1) and En...

    It might finally get interesting! Things start coming together, I know that the first couple of chapters seemed kinda random but look! Action, finally! Quatre's such a cutey, you think I'm talking about his cuteness a lot here, wait until Duo shows up! Maybe now this fic will finally get some reviews…  
  
    Dudes! I also just remembered, for the last 5 chapters I haven't written a disclaimer, this counts for those past five, k? I don't own Gundam Wing, hell, I don't even own my OC, Claudine, she owns herself. Gundam belongs to Bandai and a bunch of rich ppl in japan, not me :pout: neway, enjoy.   
  
Dragon Wars part 6   
    Quatre smiled at his familiar surroundings. The city marketplace was even more desert-like that the land that surrounded his father's castle. He walked down a set of sandstone stairs that led toward the center of the marketplace, the fountain. Some of the people he hadn't seen for a long time and who hadn't even noticed he was missing were taking a break in the shade under one of the overpasses made out of a stone bridge. The city-marketplace was one of his favorite places to go, he liked being surrounded by people and seeing the new fashions, the latest imports of food, and hearing the latest gossip.   
    Quatre leaned against the inside wall of the bridge near a group of some old women wrapped in light green and beige cloak talking rapidly in the holy language no longer used in the area officially, but still used by those who remembered it. Quatre, coming from a rich family as he did, understood the language fluently and could speak it almost as fluently. It was a language that died about fifty years ago that used to be used only in the mid-states in the desert like in Cuatrica.   
    Cuatrica had an interesting history; before the language ended up dwindling down in the mid-states is was a language that spread all across the human lands of Aldaraania. Back when mages were the rulers of Aldaraania and used their powers to form a religious and just government is was the official language of humans. But most humans broke away from the mages during the War of All, when they discovered that mages were no longer needed to defend the human lands and weapons were developed that had never before been needed. As strong as mages were, they still did not compare with Dragons, however, a good spike catapulted into the heart did wonders.   
    After centuries of rule the mages had become corrupt, some of them, for they had a lot of power individually as both government officials and mages with powers. The people raged against the central government in the east and the war lasted for years, when the casualties rose the people started executing any mages seen on the spot, the uncorrupted mages who wandered around the countryside trying to fulfill their purpose as mages by doing good and did not agree with the government went into hiding and escaped to the west, now the mid-states.   
    Mage identities were never revealed so the way of mages, and their religion disappeared. Without a religion to support it, and with the end of the rebellion, which the people won, the language of mages was replaced by the basic trade language that had been used only by traders between the human lands and the dwarf lands to the north. It only survived in the mid-states, which were nowhere near the northern trade lands or the new government forming in the East.   
    The east was turned into an imperialist kingdom, ruled by a hierarchy, which turned into the Zodiac Kingdom. The middle-states divided themselves up among clans, but the land was fought over endlessly until the formation of the Sanc Kingdom. The Sank Kingdom was formed by a family of pacifists that chose to be governed separate than the Mage government and were closely allied with nymphs and unicorns, the strong magickal powers of the creatures allowed the Peacecrafts to defend against the mage government when they tried to take away the kingdom.   
    With the mages fell, the Sanc Kingdom had expanded from the mid-north farther south into a half moon shape and ran into the conflicts of the mid-states. However, instead of getting involved with the wars going on, the Sanc Kingdom sent out their best ambassador to stop the fighting. They were not the strongest military power that gave them that advantage, but they did have an impenetrable defense, the majick users that protected their Kingdom made the Kingdom impenetrable to both the mages and the weapons of the mid-states.   
    Heero Yuy, a true genius at peace negotiations saved the nations from complete destruction. He spent his entire life trying to stop the fighting and it still wasn't enough, the south states and the north states that bordered each other still broke out into battles every year, it only stopped when a common enemy was presented, and Heero Yuy was assassinated by the newly formed Northern Kingdom.   
    The thankful mid-states were willing to war with the northern Kingdom for the Sanc Kingdom or at least defend it by using military force but the Sanc Kingdom allowed none of it. The Northern Kingdom were allied and still remained allied with races in the far north of Aldaraania and were able to use black majick to take down the defenses of the Sanc Kingdom, from there it was all over. The Sanc Kingdom fell quickly and harshly and none of the Peacecraft royal family survived.   
    That was only fifteen years ago, when the government of the east became stable and had started trading to both sides of the feuds over the land in the middle-states, the bastards, the language changed. There should have been a long lasting resistance to the Zodiac Kingdom for continuing the war by selling weapons but now the council was giving in to them. The fact that the old ladies were talking in that language signified that they must have resistance against the council's decisions. Quatre smiled, _good_, he listened in.   
    "The council just had a meeting with Mr. Winner, the only noble in this damn government that still upholds the old ways of Yuy peace-"   
    "Hagar, Yuy's dead, and if we don't take the right side so will we be, if we don't join a winning side before the war starts then we'll end up like the Sanc Kingdom. Who knew a war would be so close at hand after a peace?" The woman in draped green robes asked in a raspy voice.   
    The other sounded younger and more determined than she looked, "The Zodiac, that's who. They won't keep us safe, you think that give a damn about us? The people? As soon as the Sanc Kingdom fell this government has been going down hill, if it wasn't for Mr. Winner I swear we would already have gone back to war fighting over petty land, and the Zodiac would sit back and watch us destroy each other, and when we ran out of things to destroy each other with, they would profit off it."   
    "Old bat, if we don't join them then we'll have a four sided war on our hands. The Northern Kingdom, the Southern republic, the Zodiac Kingdom and other mid-states who are being supplied by the Zodiac Kingdom that decide they want another try at our land!"   
    "Who are you calling a bat? And old, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!?" The woman dressed in beige canvas whacked her cane over the other's head.   
    "Ow! That hurt you son of a mage!" The woman in green grappled and pulled at the others face as she began to whack her again.   
    Whack! Whack! Whack!   
    Quatre tried to keep a straight face but was failing miserable, her turned around the corner to laugh away from them. He turned and walked right into the sun, temporarily blinded, to get on the other side of the bridge and laugh. He couldn't see though and bumped into a basket made of rope, apologized and stumbled backwards into the walk, doubling over with laughter when something ran into him so hard he and it fell to the sand in a mess of tangled cloth and appendages.   
    They rolled away from each other simultaneously, the other held her head and Quatre, who could not yet see blinked so that he could see this time to what he was apologizing. His vision began to clear and before him he saw a girl, sitting on her but holding her head saying "Ow."   
    Quatre jumped to her side and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm so sorry, are you okay?!"   
    The girl looked up and smiled, "It's okay, I have a hard head."   
    Quatre laughed a little and looked to see if she was hurt. She had dark brown eyes that looked perpetually happy and sparkled in half moons. Her thick, black hair was tied back tightly in a purple velvet tie and flourished out in a curly bundle behind her head that reached her chin. She wore a course, poofy but light blouse and wet sand colored canvas pants held up with brick colored suspenders. She wore brown, elflike shoes on her feet that still managed to look of Cuatrican design. That might make sense considering long ago, before the war of All, Cuatrica had been close in trade (and kin) with elves.   
    Ahem, well, she was dirty, but not hurt, he concluded. She bounced back up to her feet and actually offered a hand to him. He took it in awe but after they had stood up she let go to wipe the sand off her pants and he followed suit. As they dusted themselves off Quatre stole another glance at her, she didn't look like a normal Cuatrican, her skin was much darker than any he had seen and, like him, she was pretty short.   
    She looked him up and down as well he noticed, before their eyes met. Again she offered her hand, but this time to shake it. "Hi, I'm Claudine," she smiled widely with her bright straight teeth. Quatre stood there, shaking her hand kind of dumbly, well, actually, it was dumbly since he wasn't saying anything. "And you are…?"   
    Quatre jerked his head a little, "Oh, I'm Quatre, hi, nice to meet you." _That was in the wrong order,,,_ he realized.   
    Claudine gave him a sideways glance, "Right… may I ask, why were you laughing?" she tilted her head to the side cutely.   
    After Quatre stared at her another second, he finally answered, "Oh," he laughed in between, "These two old ladies-"   
    "Goat head!"   
    "Chicken butt!"   
    "At least my butt ain't as wide as a cow!"   
    "My face? I'd bet men would rather kiss a scorpion than you!" They were yelling in basic now. The woman draped in green ran out from behind the bridge towards the fountain and close on her tail was the other, trying to beat her with a cane.   
    As they ran past Quatre simply pointed, "That," he stated simply.   
    Claudine sweatdropped and followed them with her gaze, the green lady had jumped on the others back while she tried to whack her with the cane and sometimes missed and whacked both of them. The whole time they yelled out strange insults. After that pause, they both started laughing again at the same time. "That was pretty funny," Claudine stammered. "So what are you doing here?" she asked.   
    Quatre smirked, "I'm trying to pick up the latest gossip on the council conference, what about you?"   
    "Well why didn't you go to the meeting yourself, it was open to the public," she stated like she was trying to make an argument.   
    Quatre got a little defensive, "Well, I don't need to. I want the people's opinion."   
    This time Claudine smirked, "Oh, I see," she said mischievously.   
    Quatre got even more defensive, "What do you see?" he took a step back.   
    She looked around from side to side and reached into the pocket at her side, then paused. "I can't tell you out in the open, come on." With that flippant remark she started walking past the bridge, towards the fountain. Quatre caught up with her and tried to stay side by side through the crowds. They past someone selling eggs that tried to sell to them to them and that restarted their conversation. He was feeling a bit awkward, being carried off by this girl randomly.   
    "You don't like eggs?" Quatre asked, he wanted to know something, anything about this girl and possibly what she was thinking.   
    "Of course I like eggs, I just don't have the time or money for eggs."   
    "You had time for me…" Quatre said softly.   
    "There are several reasons," Claudine began, thoroughly enjoying the random topic of conversation. They weaved through crowds to the left to get into a back ally. They passed a quasi-stage that had belly dancers on it. Quatre glanced over but was much more interested in the egg conversation. "First, talking to you doesn't cost money, despite your unique charm of knocking people over-"   
    "I'm really sorry about that… Would you like me to buy you an egg?"   
    "-second, you amuse me," she said as she laughed at his response. "Third, you are cuter and most likely taste better than eggs," At that she turned and made snapping sounds with her teeth, Quatre took this as her answer and blushed. Claudine, in turn laughed at his adorable reaction.   
    The crowd began thinning out as they weaved to the left until they walked down a straight sub-ally that had only a few people walking down it towards the fountain. In between two buildings Claudine led Quatre into a very narrow ally. He looked suspiciously at her. Although he doubted that she was going to try to hurt him she could try to rob him or… Quatre blushed. He really didn't know her that well at all.   
    "Um, Claudine?" He asked before entering the extremely narrow alley with her. It was rather dark so that the shadow had already covered and hidden her body.   
    She stepped out briefly only to grab Quatre's hand and drag him back into the alley with her. Quatre swallowed and tried to fight her off… sort of, when she turned to face him. "As unlikely as it is that you are from the east," Before Quatre could even see Claudine pulled a small dagger from her side pouch and held it pointing at his throat, "I cannot trust a stranger that talks like a spy," her voice lowered dangerously and Quatre tried to take a step back.   
    Claudine lunged a little and brought the dagger to the side of his throat, preventing further movement. Quatre started to stammer a question when Claudine cut in, "No excuses, who are you… mage?!"   
    His mouth clamped shut and his eyed widened, Quatre succeeded in taking a shocked step back, it was enough movement to draw a thin line of red on the side of his throat. The pain was forgotten by Quatre, he looked at Claudine in confusion and asked in an unbelieving whisper, "M-…Mage?"   
    After glancing at the cut she had made on Quatre's neck Claudine got close to him again, regained her threatening position easily and answered with an affirmative, "Mn," deep in her throat.   
  
  
I will leave you in suspense there. I forgot to yell, REVIEW ME!!!!!!!!! It makes me so happy. Is Quatre really a mage? Who is Claudine? Why didn't I make this a lemon? (Claudine'd get mad… maybe. Yes, she's a real person. :waves: HI CLAUDINE!) Will I ever regain my sanity? (Claudine: No. And if you ever put me in a lemon I'll-) Hope your enjoying, bai -MaraJadeblu 


	7. Frienship Blooms... sorta.

Okay, things didn't exactly pull together, did they? Well for all you Quatre fans… more to come. Still I hope this fic is good enough to get some more reviews. I've decided to finish this one before finishing my other Gundam W ones. Any objections? Not that I have and fans… just Windy, thanx windy, love ya. Oh, and I don own Gundam Wing.   
  
Just one other thing! To make up for how long i didn't post, this chapter is really long. ^.^   
  
    "So, let me get this straight… Aldaarania is a world… without tea?" Relena asked, "And I'm a slave?"   
    Quatre pops up, "No tea?" he added, "That's barbaric!"   
    "Injustice!" -Wufei   
    "I agree," Relena said, "Slavery is horrible."   
    "No tea…" Wufei said disdainfully to Quatre, "It's a shame, no green tea either?" He asked MaraJadeblu.   
    "Um… Relena, I think they're talking bout the tea. And I know, it's a pity, but no green tea either."   
    Wufei: :pout:   
    Relena: :glare:   
  
  


Dragon Wars part 7

  
  
    Quatre looked at her with shock and disbelief, she didn't, couldn't expect him to take her seriously, "I'm no mage," he said with a hint of panicked amusement; she was holding a dagger to his throat after all. _Yes,_ he thought to himself,_** that's** why my heart's going a mile a minute._   
    Claudine showed no amusement at all in contrast, she narrowed her eyes and looked ready to spit. "Don't bother arguing with me about it, I *know* you are a mage," she growled at him.   
    Quatre gave up being polite, "That's impossible, because I'm not," he answered defiantly.   
    Claudine glared at him, she loved to argue, especially when she knew she was right but his blind determination was annoying. "You are too."   
    "I am not," Quatre stated shortly.   
    "Are too," she answered, a little shocked that he would continue the argument when they both knew she was right.   
    "I am not," Quatre glared at her, _who does she think she is?_   
    "Are too," Claudine answered with a little more anger, _what a waste of time, why does he even bother? Who does he think he is?_   
    "Am not," Quatre stated with less disbelief and more of a childish lilt.   
    "Are too," Claudine stopped crouching in a ready stance and put one hand on her hip, the other hand still holding the dagger close to Quatre's throat.   
    "Am not."   
    "Are too."   
    "Am not," Quatre said louder.   
    "Are too," Claudine said loudly, with an impatient and childish edge.   
    "Am not."   
    "Are too!"   
    "Am not!"   
    "Are too!"   
    "I. Am. Not."   
    "You. Are. Too."   
    "Am not!!"   
    Claudine lost all patience, "Why are you even arguing?! I can see your aura! I know!" She eyed him wildly, throwing up one of her hands in an exasperated gesture.   
    Quatre paused and let that sink in, he wasn't a mage… but if she could see his aura then… "You can _see_ my aura?" He asked slowly.   
    She looked at him angrily, "Yes! That's what I've been saying! I know- oh crap." She lifted her free hand up to cover her mouth. "You didn't hear that," said her muffled voice.   
    "So…" Quatre pieced together, "If, and that's only and IF, I am a mage, and you can see my aura that means that you must be… another mage?!" He took a step back. Quatre had never been in the presence of a mage; they were all dead.   
    "No!" Claudine yelled haughtily, "I'm NOT a mage," she made a sound of disregard. She rolled her eyes then realized she had made another mistake, "Oh man…" she said to herself.   
    Quatre's eyes widened, "Not a mage," he looked at the girl who had begun to yell at herself about how stupid that was silently and whipped up her head at the sound of his voice, "Any magickal creature, not just mages, can sense the aura of another magickal creature." He looked over her again, and she returned a worried glance.   
    _Damn, he's figuring it out!_ Claudine lunged toward him and closed the gap to his throat to distract him, but she knew it wouldn't last long.   
    Her skin color was like none other that Quatre had seen, there were the light, and the very dark but he had never seen her welcoming tan color before in a human. There were nymphs… but nymphs never had that color, they were blue, green, dark brown, sometimes pale peach but never tan. Dwarves didn't look like that either; besides, she was much too short to be a dwarf, too thin as well… and Dwarves were not creatures of magick.   
    "You!" He pointed at her, she glared at him in annoyance that he had figured it out, "You're… an elf?" He glanced at her ears, they were only slightly pointy, but not enough to be noticeable, her eyes were almond shaped, but a lot of humans had that feature.   
    She glared at him and then turned away, wistfully saying, "Half-Elf, no… more than that, mostly Elf." She looked back at him proudly.   
    He tilted his head to one side cutely and looked at her closer. From one side, then another. She glared at him with half lidded eyes, after he continued to look at her like some strange lump of mass she got more than a little annoyed, "Will you stop that?!" For more of an effect she reminded him that she had a sharp piece of steel pressed to one of his most vital vessels.   
    He backed off immediately, "I'm so sorry, I've just never seen one," he squinted at her in the dark of the alley.   
    "Oi, quit it," she reached up and put her hand across his eyes, blocking his vision effectively. He was so surprised that he was still until there was no need to panic. Well, except the fact that Claudine was being way too casual with the dagger that held his life.   
    She sighed and looked to the side thoughtfully, enjoying the moment, "Now, mage, my question-"   
    "I'm not a-"   
    She twirled the dagger a little and growled out, "MY question…" through gritted teeth.   
    Quatre gulped, "All ears…"   
    She took a deep breath, finally expecting an answer, "Who are you?"   
    Quatre paused, thinking about the answer that would best please her but still sticking to the truth. He had read in his studies that Elves could tell when someone was lying. Slowly he annunciated, as his throat moved the dagger grazed it as a reminder, "Quatre Rebarba Winner."   
    Claudine's eyes snapped open, then she blinked. She let go of his face and switched her hold to Quatre's collar to yank him close enough that their noses almost touched. She searched through his eyes for the truth; it was not one of her best-developed skills. She wasn't sure what truth looked like, actually, but she found no lies, which was good enough. In one fluid movement she pulled the dagger away from Quatre and thrust him back for the first time.   
    Quatre staggered and regained his balance, then found room in the cramped alley to put his hands on his knees and breath heavily, he muttered to himself, "Scary," in between pants.   
    Claudine sheathed her dagger quickly and thought hard, after a moment she looked back to the boy, who she had basically just tortured for information, and felt a little guilty. He was just so nice. But then she looked up in shock and amazement, wondering out loud, "Winner's boy is a mage…"   
    Quatre stood at this and faced her once again, he realized that she really did not want to hurt him but he didn't understand. That was okay for him, he still had a smile on his face because whatever this girl was, he was sure that they weren't enemies. "I'm still not a mage," he said in a friendly manner.   
    "I still see your aura," Claudine said amiably.   
    They paused looking at each other, and then smiles started to spread across their faces. It didn't matter anymore about who was actually right. Slowly they both snickered, and then broke out into relieved laughter at their childishness. Claudine had leaned against the wall for support; it was just so funny that a scene, so serious that they were both still unclenching muscles from, was interrupted by their childish quarrel.   
    As he was laughing, Quatre winced and brought his hand up to his throat, which was bleeding slightly. Claudine's eyes shot open, "Oh! I'm really sorry!" She walked over to him and looked at the wound. After a second she pulled out a clean cloth from her pocket and dabbed at the blood on his neck.   
    He winced again, "Really, it's okay. I ran into you first. Sorry about that."   
    When she was done she looked back at him and pocketed the cloth, "Sorry," she repeated. They looked each other in the eyes for a moment; Claudine seemed to be considering something. After the pause, with the two only inches apart, Claudine sighed. "You're Winner's son, and you want to know the people's opinion about allying with Zodiac? I see why you didn't need to attend the meeting, you could just ask your father."   
    Quatre simply nodded.   
    Claudine casually walked passed Quatre in the narrow alley into the open once again. She beckoned him to follow. "Then, I have something important to show you." She began to walk down the sub-ally away from the fountain into another alley; bare of people, and not nearly as narrow.   
    Quatre smiled thankfully and followed, the pain in his neck diminishing. "Thank you, I guess I got lucky." He followed his new friend at a trot.   
    "I don't know what kind of luck you have, meeting me like this." Claudine stopped in front of an old building with chipping orange paint, and steps leading to the cellar entrance. There was a sliding peep space that was closed near the top. Claudine looked around casually and tapped the door in a specific rhythm. Given the clue, Quatre attempted to look casual.   
    The smaller door slid open and eyes looked up at Claudine, who still looked away. "Claudine," a gruff voice said surprisingly quietly, "Even though I know you, you know the drill. Pass?" The man had creepy orange eyes that looked dirty enough to match the chipped paint.   
    "Goblins feet taste great with olive oil," Claudine smirked at the wall opposite her, then turned her eyes to Quatre, "Doncha think?" She grinned. Quatre smiled politely and tried not to laugh; he was being casual. Casual.   
    "Who's the brat?" _Casual,_ Quatre thought, he willed himself not to turn and face the man who insulted him angrily.   
    "Watch you're mouth, Daisy, he's with me." Claudine backed up just enough for the door to open and raised an eyebrow at Quatre.   
    Quatre followed but looked at her questionably and mumbled, "Daisy?"   
    As they headed inside Claudine chuckled, "It's a nickname, hi daisy!" She waved at a tall, wide, extremely muscular man. He had bushy black hair and a beard on his square chin. On his head was a red cap. Plates of armor and the two swords strapped to his hip covered his clothes. 'Daisy' tipped his head to Claudine and glared at Quatre, who bowed slightly.   
    (Always bow to the guy with the weapons.)   
    Daisy shook his finger in front of Claudine's face and tsked, "Uh uh uh. You know the deal, check the weapons. All of them." He held out his hand. The light was dimmer but Quatre could see behind him a pile of weapons as well as racks on the walls, full of weapons.   
    Quatre gulped and pointed, "Carried weapons are forbidden by the council…"   
    "Nothing done here is allowed by the council," Daisy said absently. Daisy saw that he wasn't giving any weapons and began to pat him down. Quatre's eyes widened to the point of being as round as saucers. He was not expecting that at all. "Clean," Daisy stated. He tapped Quatre's head with just enough force to push him forward.   
    "I could have _told_ you that," Quatre muttered, feeling more than a little insulted.   
    "Sorry, I forgot," Claudine said cheerfully before pulling out five other concealed weapons that he swore couldn't have possible been concealed, there wasn't enough room, and handing them to Daisy. She leaned toward Quatre and whispered, "Trick is to bring at least one good weapon, so that they _don't_ search you." She mock saluted to Daisy and continued on, next to Quatre.   
    They were in a tavern environment. Dim cup shaped lights hung from the ceiling. To the right was a bar, filled with drinks of every kind on the walls, with glowing signs with, Quatre blushed, girls on them. The bar was packed to the brim, every stool filled, both bartenders busy. Drinking was not allowed by the council in public. Liquor was not supposed to drunk in the place it was bought, only in the home. "I see what he meant by nothing done here is allowed…"   
    "You ain't seen nothing yet." They continued walking. Quatre avoided bumping into the irritated drunk men and barmaids. There were half-walls separating booths that created a cubical maze, which Claudine was easily navigating. They were heading to the back of the tavern. Quatre briefly wondered why this girl was always leading him somewhere dark…   
    "Excuse me," Quatre began saying every five seconds as their slow course led them closer to the bar and to a small corner that was made of stone, not wood, with spiraling downward steps. They reached the stairway and started to head down. Through the course of the trip Quatre had once again fallen a few steps behind Claudine.   
    His curiosity fueled him to follow her. He wondered what was so well hidden, so important, that Claudine was letting him see it? Her boots made a clacking noise down the stairs, but that was their only conversation. None.   
    After doing a few full circles on the curving staircase they finally came to the end, where the steps flattened out to dirt and the light suddenly became a lot dimmer. From inside the darkened area Quatre could hear the clanging of metal and the sound of authoritative voices distributing orders. He squinted against the darkness and briefly wondered what it was he was about to shown.   
    They stepped into what was a large cavern, hand dug underneath the bar he had just visited. Around him on the walls hundreds of weapons hung of all sorts. One section had a variety of axes; another held swords. In addition there were spears, bows and arrows and various specialized weapons.   
    The cavern was lit by torches every 5 meters or so. They hung on the walls above the weapons, which is why he looked there first. Not only were the walls covered in weapons, but also there were troops of people in the center of the cavern lined up in an orderly fashion. They, he realized, were being trained in what appeared to be a sort of hand-to-hand combat. There weren't as many people as there were weapons though.   
    In another corner across the entrance where he was there was a table with busy looking men hovering over it. Behind that, practically hidden in the shadows was a small group of guards armed with armor and spears. Quatre couldn't help but wonder what they were guarding and felt drawn towards it, to find out what it was. Involuntarily he took a step forward in that direction.   
    Claudine looked at Quatre questioningly and then with doubt, "I'm surprised, I thought you'd freak out much more than this."   
    The sound of her voice brought Quatre back to reality. This place, where he was, shouldn't by any means be there. It certainly wasn't the poorly developed army Cuatrica held… since Heero Yuy was very influential in this state; that only left the option of a revolutionary group in a country sworn for pacifism. It didn't seem right. He took about three seconds to fully realize that these things went against everything his father stood for… everything his country was supposed to be until, as Claudine predicted, he freaked.   
    "What in the world is this?!" He yelled after he spun to face Claudine. His voice echoes off the dirt walls of the cavern, which gave it a musty, soil-like smell. "Why are there weapons and troops here? In Cuatrica?" He got in her face immediately, which was a big mistake.   
    "Hey! Don't get into my face like that!" she yelled back, "You don't understand what's going on!"   
    "No, you're right, I don't get it, what _is_ going on?" He took a step back when he realized he had actually kind of hurt her feelings.   
    She flipped her hair to the other side of her neck and sighed in the corner of her mouth. "We're here to protect Cuatrica from Zodiac. We would worried they would try and take us over with military force... but now their using politics." She made a sound of disgust, "So when they send in their troops to keep control, we plan on leading a revolution."   
    Quatre furrowed his brow, "Revolution?" _Is that right? A revolution in Cuatrica… it would be very destructive-_   
    "The people want it: we estimate up to forty percent of the population of Cuatrica, and that's not counting those that would join of their own accord." She crossed her arms and turned away from him breathing in deeply of the earthy smell and surveying her life. She closed her eyes sadly, _why are there so many weapons in my life?_ At that she smiled and turned back to find Quatre deep in thought of his own.   
    He was a bit surprised at how the public was so willing for the revolution, all his memories of his hometown were peaceful, full of baskets of flowers, children playing, and his sisters singing together in a choir of relaxing serenity. However, this news brought him joy as well as regret. _I traveled all the way south, risked my life, and worried my family for nothing. Everything I wanted to fight for was right here… in my hometown… handed to me on a platter… like everything else…_ His resolve reaffirmed, convinced that going off was perhaps the right thing to do… so he would have the courage to do what he was about to do.   
    "I want to join." He looked at Claudine with new eyes. She noticed that they looked a little more like an adult, at least to her. At first she had seen him as somewhat a child, adorable, untainted, until she realized he was a mage. Knowing that fact caused her to expect this from him, at the very least. That's why she had brought him down there.   
    She simply gave him a knowing look and said, "Alright, now I can tell you're serious. So cut the facade, show me your power."   
    He looked at her. His surprise and anger was completely gone. Now he had accepted he was a mage, but hadn't known it. It was a sad realization that his father had hidden it from him, but not surprising, and not something he was particularly proud of. A sad, confused smile appeared on his face, "I really don't know."   
    He didn't have to say it, Claudine could tell by the look on his face. She put her hand up to her chin to show she was thinking theatrically. "Can you use any weapons?"   
    Quatre looked around, he had participated in fencing for several years, but only as a sport and there were no fencing foils to be had in the underground stronghold. He shook his head, "Not really."   
    Claudine sighed, "Then I can't let you fight, you'd be killed."   
    "Then teach me," he asked simply yet in a demanding way.   
    She glared at him slightly, but smiled brightly. "Alright," she looked him up and down with her hand on her chin once again, "for you… something light."   
    Quatre blushed.   
    "That requires skill, good eyes… strength… and is compatible with magickal ability to give you an edge." She winked, then furrowed her brow, then smiled again, triumphantly. "I got it! A bow!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him across the room, closer to the dark area that was guarded. As they neared the bows on the wall just next to there the light flowed far enough to allow him to see a sliver of what was hidden.   
    He saw a glimmer of metal he had never seen before. It was huge and seemed impossible to conceive. He stopped in his tracks so suddenly Claudine lost her grip on his wrist. She turned to see what he was strarng at, and was not surprised in the least. "Oh, that," she sounded a little pissed. She sighed and led him closer so he could see more. She had to lead him because he was staring in awe.   
    "What is it?" he asked with wonder. Now he could see the complete size of it. It was like nothing he had ever seen. Like a huge creation of armor and it almost looked like a humanoid, kneeling before its spectator. The colors were comforting, white, and dark like shields, and sand. It was beautiful to him, even if he didn't understand why.   
    Claudine tapped her foot, trying to expel her urge to kick it, "It's a Dragon. It was used in the War of All against living Dragons… and they won too. That's how powerful the things were… are… refuse to be." She glared at the Dragon again.   
    "Wow," was all Quatre could get out.   
    Claudine crossed her arms and sighed angrily, "Yes, that was my initial reaction as well. Problem is, I cant get the thing to work," she stuck her tongue out at the machine then turned away and muttered, "If I had we would have attacked already."   
    It took Quatre a moment to realize what she said, "Attacked? I thought you were a defense group!" He turned to her angrily._They took a war where it didn't belong, they're going to start a war in my country!_   
    Claudine looked at him stonily and didn't look away or blink. He could tell she strongly believed in what she was doing but now hw had to wonder, _Are my people really eager to revolt, of has this group forced it upon them?_ "We have indeed sworn to guard this kingdom, however, we are actually a part of the South Republic military. We _are_ a resistance group."   
    Quatre stared at her silently for a moment. She wasn't hiding, or trying to hide anything from him. "You're part of S.R.?" he asked bluntly.   
    "That is where we get our weapons and supplies." She gestured to the rest of the cavern, lined with weapons. The gesture also implied that she withheld nothing.   
    Quatre, after understanding that he had not been betrayed, became hopeful, "Are there other resistance groups everywhere?!" He smiled and stepped closer to Claudine.   
    The tension had passed and Claudine smiled at his enthusiasm, "Only where there is initial resistance. Because of the Winner family's own resistance to Zodiac it has allowed us to become one of the strongest." Quatre was about to say something about how his father would never allow this willingly when, "Also because of the Winner family's pacifistic ideas it has become hard to make allies within the state who neither deal with your father or with Zodiac." She sighed and looked back to the Dragon. She then suddenly remembered that she was supposed to get Quatre a bow and disappeared briefly as Quatre continued to stare at the Dragon.   
    He heard her call him from around the bend near the bows and he turned to go to her when he heard a noise like a great rumble in his head that made him stop. Slowly and curiously he turned back to look at the Dragon's 'face'. He stared for what seemed like minutes but nothing happened. Thinking that it was just his imagination his body moved to leave even though his eyes met the Dragon's and when his second step hit the earth the Dragon seemed to rock forward and it's eyes glowed with a sudden intensity that the light burned Quatre's eyes yet he could not look away.   
    "Ah!" Quatre jumped back and looked away. The cavern receded into darkness once again and everything went dim. For a moment Quatre thought that he had gone blind until he saw Claudine's head pop up from around the corner. He stumbled and stopped walking; deciding instead that waiting for her was best.   
    "What happened?" Claudine asked. She was alert and tense expecting an attack. When she looked around though, she saw nothing threatening. Only the Dragon, as it always had been. She looked back at Quatre expectantly.   
    "The Dragon… thing," he gained control of his breath and his nerves, "it came alive, with bright flashing eyes and pierced…" He touched his head, surprisingly to him still intact, and trailed off.   
    Claudine held back a smart-ass remark about Quatre's insanity and looked doubtingly at the Dragon, not at him. "That thing hasn't moved in all the time we've seen it. Why would it react to you?" she asked him directly as if he would know.   
    He shrugged, "It doesn't make sense to me either." He refrained from looking at the Dragon once again although he had a strange compulsion to do so. "Well, if you can teach me how to use a bow and arrow I would be very grateful." He smiled kindly at her and turned to leave the area, this time in peace. Claudine followed swiftly but not without glancing back at the Dragon.   
  
    So began Quatre's training. He did not yet attempt the battle of magick but only learned small tips that would help him apply his abilities to the use of the bow. Little by little it became more apparent to him that he was indeed a mage although his lineage was a mystery to him. As it stood, Claudine knew more about the use of offensive magick than he did by far although usually elves are healers an have powers of prophesies.   
    That actually turned out to be more of Quatre's area.   
    The first time he actively discovered a powerful magick on his own was in the use of healing. He and Claudine had been practicing basic swordplay, partly for fun, when he made a sweep at her shoulder that would have cut off her arm if used with enough force. Quatre did not yet have that ability anyway, but he would have severed her muscles if she had not blocked and slid in towards him. She could have blocked and flung his unstable arm out to give him a deadly wound but she was by far the better swordsman and it was her job to keep herself from getting hurt, as well as not hurting Quatre. Because she slid into the blow it did graze her arm and drew a shallow slash below her bicep. They disengaged immediately.   
    "Ow!" Claudine held her arm out to examine the laceration. As a half elf she was in no danger, the wound would soon heal but Quatre freaked out none the less.   
    "I'm so sorry! I'm terribly sorry! What a low move that was of me, let me get something to tie that with!" He looked around frantically while in the background Claudine asked him to calm down. When the blood seeped out of the wound and started to trace a line down her arm Quatre could take it no longer. He gently grasped Claudine's wrist and turned the wound towards him. Without realizing what he was doing Quatre put his other hand over the wound and closed his eyes tightly. Claudine could swear she heard what sounded like a spell, but that was impossible, since Quatre knew no spells. For a moment her arm burned at the cut and then Quatre took his hand away. The blood remained but the cut was gone.   
    Claudine did not stare in amazement as Quatre had. She knew exactly what had happened and in a way it frightened her. Quatre knew no spells… she was sure of it, yet as a mage he should only have healing powers through spells or someone to teach him how to use that ability. Claudine was his only teacher and most female elves were healers but she was not most female elves. As a half-elf she did not have a great healing ability and instead relied on her warrior ability. If Quatre could use a healing ability even she did not posses without knowing what he was doing he must have been a very powerful mage indeed, and that scared her.   
    She trusted Quatre, and they had become quite good friends but the thought of another powerful mage after the civil war was intimidating. Mages were part of the reason that elves no longer dealt with human in general and the relationship between elves, and humans and dwarves went sour. Elves didn't like mages, dwarves weren't fond of them either and humans didn't even like them so it did make her nervous that the student might surpass the teacher… it would also piss her off.   
    But at the same time she felt happiness and pity for Quatre. She watched as his face flickered the same emotions and fears she had just felt, but I must have been ten times worse for him. It could have been worse; he could have had a really powerful and dangerous destructive power.   
    She was also happy for him because he had discovered a power inside himself that could serve the cause he had chosen. He could make a difference and change the world. He was the hope, he was the future, and he looked really very displeased with himself.   
    Quatre stared in horror at his hand; it was trembling a little as thousands of thoughts sailed through his head. Some of those thoughts increased the falling sensation in his gut. The feeling that he was lost and something was terribly wrong and there was nothing he could do. He was a mage, and he had accepted that… But he was also now a danger to those around him. He didn't know how to act accordingly as a mage: their religion was dead. And there was always the superstition that mages were evil at heart and would eventually become more corrupt the more power they obtained… he furrowed his brow. He wanted none of these things!   
    Claudine felt as if she had to offer some sort of comfort, she thought hard but subtlety was not her strong point. Gently she place a hand over Quatre's. He looked up a little at her before…   
    She bawled the poor unexpecting boy over with a hug, which could be considered more of a glomp, by those that spoke the slang terms in Aldaraania.   
    "Ack!" Quatre managed. Claudine took that as a cue that he was comforted. She allowed Quatre to sit up and sat back on her calves. When he looked back at her with amusement and confusion she began speaking. "Look at it this way, you have two choices: use your powers for good, or use your powers selfishly. But think of all the good you can do! You can fight in this war and save the people from corruption, and when the war is over, you can heal people and make up for any mistakes." She said all this in the time of about five seconds.   
    Quatre smiled warmly at her, feeling much better and she repaid him with a manic grin. Claudine remembered her arm suddenly and glanced at it. The cut no longer hurt and she felt she was ready to continue. "Ready?" She asked.   
    Quatre nodded and they stood to par once more. "This time, you defend," Claudine said amiably yet suggestively all the same. She prepared to attack and waited until he was fully pulled together. Claudine was much faster than he was usually, being an elf and with years of practice, but this time Quatre seemed significantly more sluggish. Her parry drove him farther off balance and allowed an opening so wide she had to avoid using her sword and chose to see if he could block a kick instead.   
    Okay, maybe it was partly for revenge… but only partly!!   
     Quatre took the kick squarely in the stomach and was thrown back a few feet before hitting the ground harshly. Had he been his usual self Claudine was sure he would have at least softened that blow and slowed his fall so that it was less harmful.   
    He did neither. Claudine actually felt bad about how hard he took it when she heard the sound of his fall. She cringed as she heard a groan emit from the breathless boy. Usually she would not apologize for using violence when taking revenge but this time she knew it was wrong. She was practicing with him at her own risk and had made her own decision to take the cut, "Quatre?" She ran over to him. She really had kicked him far.   
    She stood over his body and then kneeled by his side, "Can you stand?" Quatre only held his stomach and took deep breaths in reply. She waited a minute for him while apologizing occasionally. When she finally helped him sit up she started to ask what he expected: "Why the hell didn't you dodge that?!"   
    Quatre smiled while breathing heavily, "Sorry, I'm feeling really tired," he said in between breathes.   
    Claudine considered this, _but he was feeling fine before- oh!_ She realized that he had used all his energy when he had healed her arm. "It was because of your powers," she said to Quatre.   
    Quatre needed no explanation, he had guessed that was what it was. _I'll have to use them sparingly… Wow, that really, really hurt._ He tuned back in to find that Claudine was apologizing one last time. "Really, it's okay. But I think that we should end now," he regarded his stomach.   
    Claudine nodded, "Okay, so I'll see you for training… tomorrow?" Quatre paused. This had been the first time that him and Claudine had spent time together just to have fun, even if it had been the same thing they did when they 'weren't' having fun. But, he didn't want to part with her and go his separate way back home, just because they were done fighting… He didn't really want to part with her at all.   
    "Um," his voice stopped Claudine from rising, she thought it was to help him up. Once she had gotten them both gently off the ground she began to say goodbye. "You know," he blurted, "you should come to my house."   
    Claudine stopped dead for only a second, then yelled, "WHAT?!"   
    Quatre began to sweat and realized she had misunderstood, "I mean," he felt nervous as she loomed over him threateningly, "I'm inviting you to dinner. You could meet my family!"   
    "Oh," she stopped looming. Then she laughed nervously. "Sure, I'm free, why not?"   
  
  
    I know that I took a really long time to post chapters 6 and 7 but I had no time over the summer… and the first semester flew by so quickly. I plan on writing more often now, at least for this fic but I also have to relearn lines for a play in march, so have mercy. Reviews really do help me write, if they're nice they make me want to write, sometimes inspire, and if they're constructive criticism that's good too. FISH! 


	8. The feast.

  
    I know that the story is moving slow… I can't help it!!! It will speed up the next chapter, but this chapter is important for other reasons. Like Romance, yay for romance!! WAI! I don't know, I just felt like writing that.   
    I don't own gundam wing or Recod of Lodoss Wars or ANYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE ME MONEY!! No money for me.   
  
Chapter 8 --The Feast--   
  
    Quatre always felt relaxed around Claudine. The best thing about Claudine was that Claudine was absolutely nothing like his sisters. He was tired of being surrounded by sisters. Females in general had started to turn him off. He had other things to worry about, like saving his country; another plus was that Claudine felt that way too.   
    Quatre explained to Claudine that he ought not be misunderstood when he warned her of his sisters. He loved each and every one of them dearly. The problem was… that he had twelve of them, and every single one of them was older than he was. Most could probably have taken him before he started training with Claudine.   
    So although he loved them the reason he had warned Claudine was because with him bringing his first girl home, who he had been spending most of his free time with, they might get the wrong idea. He was actually kinda sure that they would get the wrong idea.   
    Quatre glanced at Claudine as they walked up the path to his castle-like house. They walked in silence to his mind drifted to previously spoken words:   
    _"Don't you have to tell your parents you'll be coming for dinner?" he had asked stupidly.   
    "Naw," Claudine said lightly. She turned to him smiling, "I don't have anyone to report to! I'm on my own, my parents died." She waved her hand dismissively and bounced along happily. 
_   
    Maybe it was the slightest undertone that only Quatre could catch in Claudine's voice, but he felt as though it meant more to Claudine about being alone than she let on. He reproached himself for asking such a potentially damaging question. After that they had been walking in silence for a while.   
    The path that led to the stone mansion he lived in was lined in the distance with servants' houses. The servants didn't live in unhappy poverty; they were paid well and lived better than lower class in the town. Quatre's father made sure that they had everything they needed. So as he and his guest walked by he received many waves and even a few embarrassing questions from the people who knew him better.   
    However, there were no childhood friends for Quatre to introduce to Claudine, there were only his dreaded sisters. Claudine hadn't noticed by then how lonely Quatre had been growing up and how grateful he was to finally have a friend that cared about him outside the family. Beside the fact that he was- that she knew… he was… a mage.   
    He hadn't yet brought up his inheritance with his father. Perhaps he got it from his mother and his father didn't even know. Quatre was hoping that was the answer but he knew it probably wasn't. His father had never shown signs of having any magickal abilities, and rarely talked about Quatre's mother.   
    Quatre had a different mother than all of his older sisters. They never treated him like a half-brother but he had always felt very detached from the rest of the world. His sister Iria was probably the only sister that spent a lot of time with him. The others didn't really _know_ him. They were so much older that they had concerns of their own and none of them had any fascination with a child that wasn't fully related to them when they had to worry about finding a husband to make children of their own.   
    Iria was the closest thing he had to a mother, although even she hadn't spent time with him until after he had turned five, a year after his mother had died. Quatre had a few memories of his mother. She used to play with him in the garden of the estate and loved music. She played the fiddle at parties and enjoyed singing slow and beautiful folk songs for different occasions. Now that Quatre thought about it, she used to sing in the language of mages.   
    As he thought some more about the memories of his mother he realized she used that language often when she didn't want him to understand what she was saying. He now understood why his father had had him take courses on the history of mages which allowed him a fountain of historical knowledge since mages had kept the records since writing was only a luxury for those that were mages or could afford a great expense to learn it. Quatre knew how to write and at one point when Claudine had received a note about a meeting of underground leaders, Quatre also realized that Claudine must have had a wealthy, or at least fortunate, upbringing. He knew almost nothing of Claudine's past and upbringing and had only just learned both her parents were dead.   
    Then again, Claudine didn't know much about Quatre either in the week that they had known each other. She was about to find out… but she didn't yet know. Considering that they hadn't known each other that long she was still the closest friend Quatre had ever had. It was in her nature to be friendly and rather optimistic and the fact that Quatre welcomed this refreshing view on life enthusiastically, which truly fueled their friendship further.   
    They arrived at the large wooden entrance of Quatre's home. Quatre pulled the braided rope that ran into the wall and range a bell. Shortly Lovac came to answer the door. He bowed silently and waved a hand towards the stairs that led to Quatre's father's study. Lovac rarely talked, and especially not with a guest around.   
    Quatre immediately noticed the décor on the wall stretching across the length of the room and recalled that there was supposed to be a family feast that night in celebration for Iria's wedding as there had been the week before. It would indeed be a night to remember. "The feast!" he exclaimed in surprise as realization hit him.   
    "Huh?" Claudine seemed preoccupied with the enormous home and all the shiny metals that glimmered in candlelight and sunshine. The flags and ribbons caught her attention and she drew the conclusion that there was to be a special event happening. She turned to Quatre and inquired, "Is there a feast tonight? Maybe I should go…" Her voice hinted that she had wanted to stay.   
    Quatre didn't want her leaving anyway. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the steps. "No, no! Come, we'll speak to my father, I'm sure he would love for you to stay."   
    "U- ah…" Claudine stuttered as she was pulled up the steps.   
  
    The fact that Quatre continued to hold his friend's hand without thinking as they entered the study of his father's only fueled his sister's comments about Claudine from the start. Three of his sisters besides Iria were in the room with his father. They tried not to be rude to Claudine by embarrassing her on first impression but that soon changed.   
    "Would it be okay if she stayed for the feast, father?" Quatre asked. His father opened his mouth to give an affirmative answer when Quatre's sister Maisa cut in, "Father you must! We have to get to know this girl that Quatre is always talking about-"   
    "-And he spends all his time with." added Rasha.   
    They had huge grins on their faces and all of a sudden Claudine felt a bit overwhelmed. Quatre started to panic, "How can you say that? I hardly ever talk about Claudine to you-"   
    "-We know, I wonder why that is-"   
    "-So much more the reason for us to get to know her."   
    To Quatre's horror his father gave him a knowing "guy look" and smiled a sly grin. "Of course I need to meet her before this relationship pursues further-"   
    "-If you get married before me I'd be horrified!" exclaimed Maisa. She was two years older than Quatre.   
    "Wait a second! We're just friends!" Quatre panicked as he turned crimson. Claudine stood in silence trying not to laugh. Quatre was so fun to mess with. She knew that his sisters were only doing it to get to him. She did it to him sometimes as well. _'Cause he's cuter when he's panicking,_ she thought to herself. When she realized what she had said to herself she pushed the thoughts from her mind.   
    Before the scene could continue six more sisters entered the room. Claudine's eyes widened. Quatre had told her he had a dozen sisters but now that she saw eight of them it seemed just a bit more real. All of them had honey colored hair closer to their father than Quatre's hair and they all had the same eyes and lilt in their voices. None of them were her age but they were all friendly in a distant way.   
    "Where are the others?" Claudine asked quietly.   
    Quatre stopped panicking and looked at her staggered. "Iria is with her fiancé and my other three sisters might not come. They all have families of their own."   
    "Oh," Claudine smiled. She was intent on being extremely polite when another thought occurred to her, "Um… I'm not really dressed for any type of formal occasion…" She looked down at her white shirt and brown pants and frowned.   
    Quatre was about to wave a hand dismissively and tell her not to worry about it and that his family knew that she meant no disrespect but his sisters butted in, "Don't worry!!!" half of them yelled with overwhelming force. "We'll lend you some clothes!!" As Quatre had just raised his finger and turned around to talk to Claudine she was whisked away in a cloud of sisters. When his eyes widened in surprised he could see Claudine's head poking out through the mass of girls. She looked frightened and slightly annoyed. She reached out a hand to Quatre, who made an attempt to grab it, and mouthed, "help me."   
    Quatre gulped as he saw her disappear and turned back to his father. "Is it really all right?" he asked.   
    His father returned a stare with a slight smile. "It's about time you bring home something other than news of a war. A girl is indeed preferable."   
    "Father…" Quatre complained. He let himself fall into the chair opposite his elder with a huff. He looked at his father seriously, "We really aren't like that," he sighed.   
    "Yet."   
    "Dad…" he used the same tone as before but started reverting to a less mature way of speaking. His father acquired a warm knowing look and chortled. Quatre hmphed.   
    "So what have you been doing with her this past week?" Mr. Winner asked with a suggestive lilt.   
    Quatre knew that he had to avoid this question somehow but parents were tricky that way. "We…" he thought about this ahead of time and had come up with nothing, now he was desperate, "we- uh," _what do friends _normally_ do? _ he asked himself, "talk," he finished lamely. He cringed when he saw his father's smile fade a little at the obvious lie. On a second thought he was wondering what his father thought they _actually_ did on a regular basis and blushed, which did not help his position in the least.   
    "Hmmm?"   
    "We also, um, spar for fun," he let out a breath knowing that he had saved himself. "She fences too," he added for good measure.   
    "Sparring buddies?" There was amusement in Mr. Winner's voice.   
    Quatre groaned and sank into his comfortable seat. Something was nagging his mind so he searched it frantically. He then sat up abruptly and smiled, "When will Iria arrive with Lord Gabriel?" Quatre was quite fond of Lord Gabriel, a very amusing man.   
    "As soon as the food arrives you can be assured…" his father cracked.   
    His son perked up again, "And when's food?" he asked happily.   
    Quatre's father laughed again, "The first course starts a little more than an hour from now."   
    Quatre's eyes sparkled in anticipation. He loved food and feasts were even better because of the celebration and family gathering. Quatre stood with fervor and smiled. "I'm going to start preparing," he started walking backwards out of the room.   
    "See you soon," Quatre's father said with a lighter tone than he had been speaking in before his son showed up. Even though he had 12 daughters, his son had a unique quality that came from his mother. She was unlike any other woman. Mr. Winner's eyes glazed over as he slipped into nostalgia, unlike any other woman indeed. He bit his lip as he remembered the time when he had discovered that the woman he had fallen in love with was a mage. She was a mage and his second love… it made no difference to him, she lit up his life with her own. Even after she had died… there was Quatre, as bright a star as his mother before him who lit up the midnight sky as a candle in the dark and strength in the worst of times.   
    Mr. Winner sighed and stood. He decided he should begin to ready himself as well.   
  
    Quatre returned to his room but couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something. He paused and thought. Suddenly his eyes widened and he chided himself, _Mother! I forgot to ask him about being a mage!_ The blond boy was halfway between putting on his shirt and having it on and decided he would wait for a more appropriate time to ask about his mother than right then.   
    He buttoned the very top of his light pastel pink blouse and looked around for his pants.   
  
    When Quatre's sister Sandra arrived Mr. Winner began to seat the guests and settle down in the dining room. Quatre worried about Claudine, who was not down yet but assumed that perhaps his sisters were trying to make her a part of their entrance. Quatre hoped not, Claudine didn't seem the type to know how to dance like that and there was no way they could teach her in an hour.   
    Quatre's father sat at the head of the table with Quatre next to him. Claudine was to Quatre's left and his sister Maisa was to his father's left. On the other head of the table sat the guests of honor, Iria and Lord Gabriel. Those seats were empty… in fact, all the seats were empty except Quatre's and his father's.   
    They sat in silence.   
    Finally the bell rang and Iria and Lord Gabriel were brought in to meet them. Both Winner men stood and greeted their kin. Quatre hugged his taller sister Iria with fervor and shook Lord Gabriel's hand. Lord Gabriel took the opportunity to poke him in the ribs and he almost fell over laughing. Iria gave her father a kiss on the cheek and they all preferred to stay standing rather than to be separated by the twenty-foot table.   
    Lord Gabriel wasn't the type to make bad joking comments like, "My, Quatre, how you've grown in three weeks!" but instead inquired if Quatre had been working out. "You have a firmer stomach than the last time I poked you. What did you do, stop eating all that great food they cook for you? Will you be eating today?"   
    Quatre shook his head, "Give up food? Me? No way, I've jest been fencing more lately." He smiled brightly.   
    "With a girl," his father added.   
    "Oh really?" Both Iria and Lord Gabriel queried.   
    "Yes, luckily we all finally got to meet her. He brought her to come to the feast today." Quatre's protesting went unnoticed in the background.   
    Lord Gabriel elbowed him, "You move faster than I do" Iria put a hand on the man's shoulder, her look was to ask, "What's that supposed to mean?" Lord Gabriel backed off.   
    Quatre sighed. "Are my sister's planning an entrance for today?" Iria asked as the four sat down.   
    "Yes, I do hope that they will hurry, I'm tired of waiting to eat," said Quatre a little impolitely. He was not a patient boy when waiting for food or doing what he thought as just.   
    "You won't have to wait long, Quatre. I don't believe any more guests will be arriving tonight. They should be down shortly," Mr. Winner calmed his son.   
    "Yes, Quatre, we'll all be seeing your girlfriend dressed up soon," Lord Gabriel rubbed his hands together with fake anticipation and Quatre smiled at him because he knew it was a joke.   
    There was a curtain hung across the left side of the room over a door. That was where Quatre's sisters would start their entrance. The foursome stared intently at the drawn maroon velvet material and waited.   
    "I wonder how they will incorporate her?" Gabriel asked no one. He and Quatre exchanged glances.   
    As expected the entrance began, fist with a loud boom coming from behind the curtain and far away. It set a slow deep rhythm as other music joined in. Tambourines started changing in a faster pace against unseen hips and a pauper next to the curtain started playing. Underneath it all there was the faint ring of bells in an uneven beat as the girls drew closer. The girls took exaggerated steps with bells on their ankles in a slow moving walk dance. They approached the curtain steadily.   
    Suddenly another sound began that was a pleasant surprise. A harp started a slow, gently thrumming as a melody in synch with the pauper. Everyone leaned in anxiously. Finally the curtain was separated with the pulling of a threaded rope of silk. Behind it the procession could be seen through three layers of sparkling threaded silk in red, midnight blue and silver. The first two girls reached the first layer and strode through them like they were walking through a silver waterfall. The threads that hung with small jewels enveloped them as they gracefully stepped towards the main hall.   
    As they began to clear the second layer they became more visibly seen. They each mostly wore different colors and went in no particular order so that they looked like a bag of jewels. They wore headpieces of golden cloth that either wrapped around their head and let two pieces down in the back or connected to a band and fell to the sides of their head. They wore bracelets that held scarves of many colors and armbands that shimmered. On their ankles were gold bells and their feet were wrapped with silver straps of cloth. Their silk pants clenched above the bells but then puffed out and only became snug again at the hip where a large belt with strings and stones like diamond tears raining from them sat. It was embedded with motif carvings and had a large oval jewel in the center. Over the top of the pants was an opaque wrap that tucked into the side of the belt. Their belly buttons didn't show but their stomachs were bare and had not yet begun their own dance. Some of the tops were loose and creased, ot  
    hers were layered with different colors, others were encrusted with gems that shone brightly and still others were tight and smooth like satin.   
    Some of Quatre's sisters had chosen to wear simple or elaborate necklaces, some which even reached up the neck to the chin. Quatre's sister Jasmine, who was all in red and shone like fire, had a simple gold chain with a ruby drop on her tanned skin had only a year ago gotten her nose pierced with a silver loop. All the girls wore makeup, things to make their cheeks rosy and eye shadow that reached their eyebrows for an exotic look. Their hair styled differed, some of them wore black wigs, like Jasmine, and had a high ponytail covered with a veil. And others kept their hair blonde and had curled it or had short hair and had pinned it.   
    The harpist, revealed to be Sandra (Married women didn't participate in the entrance dance for reasons soon to be revealed if they haven't already become apparent), was seated on a rolling plank with her harp and was being rolled forward at the end of the procession wore a long off white gown and sported hardly the amount of trinkets the others did. He long golden hair fell in curls around her shoulders and upper back as she played but slowly the sound of the harp dimmed down, and the procession stopped, and the bells stopped and the pauper died down as well.   
    The cadent sound of the tambourines slowly became more constant until the girls began to lift them above their heads and move one foot to it's balls and then back to the heel, causing one side of their hips to rise and fall. Maisa twirled forward from the center of the columns and everything stopped. Their audience breathed silently in anticipation. In a swoop everything came to life, the girls ran out from under the arch and into the sides of the main hall, the harp started again, the pauper played, and tambourines rustled and they revealed:   
    A chagrined and blushing Claudine. She was dressed in pink and gold with hints of red. Her hair was high atop her crown as Jasmine and she wore a gold choker made of many stars around her neck. The girls had applied more red makeup around her face so that it contrasted with her dress more. She had something crossed between a head band and a rolled up veil at the top of her head, which allowed pink veils to flail out on the side of her body. Her arms and fingers were scrupulously decorated with gold bands and rings and her wrap around her waist was very loose and flexible.   
    Quatre's mouth fell open and went dry. Gabriel nodded to him in approval and his father smiled warmly. Quatre's mind had just begun to register the fact that he was hanging his mouth open and gaping at her uncouthly in awe when she started to sing… in the background his sisters began chanting.   
  


_ yami no yozora ga futari wakatsu no wa   
yobiau kokoro hadaka ni suru tame   
kazari nugisute subete nakusu toki   
nanika ga mieru   
  
kaze yo watashi wa tachimukau   
yukou kurushimi no umi e to   
kizuna kono mune ni kizande   
kudakeru nami wa hatenaku tomo_

  
  
    The music changed and became faster and angrier. The girls rushed around the room with their veils billowing and took places to belly dance expertly, then twirl, then dance, but the whole time Quatre couldn't take his eyes off of Claudine as she stood there proudly, shining in the candle light. Quatre had believed no such beautiful voice could possibly come from any other than his mother. It had been clear and sweet, yet deep and sad. And the pitch! If he hadn't been so dumbly astonished he would have been hyper with interest in Claudine's experience with the music that he loved.   
    He felt something else as well, a sort of hot-cool feeling that faded into warm and would have brought a ridiculous smile to his face had he been mobile. Surely he was at least blushing the slightest bit. He was content for the moment to just watch her every facial expression as she stood there and anticipated her singing once more with feverish edginess.   
    The music faded from anger to determination and the sweet melody returned…   
  


_ kaze yo watashi wa tachimukau   
yukou kagayaki wo mezashite   
inori kono mune ni dakishime   
samayou yami no you na mirai_

  
  
Quatre's heart almost skipped a beat as she had crossed her arms over her heart and twirled then took some paces jaggedly forward in a dance like movement. As the verse ended the dance of the others changed. They touched palms and circled in pairs, then in triples and the music went from determined to accomplished and full of love. The took out their veils and danced in elaborate patterns that made the veils seem like wind wrapped around their bodies and magickally blowing them aloft.   
When Claudine began again her voice was louder and brighter than ever before. She wore a wide smile as she closed her eyes and sung:   
  


_ kaze yo watashi wa osorenai   
ai koso mitsukedashita kiseki yo   
kimi wo shinjite'ru yorokobi   
arashi wa ai ni kizuku tame ni fuite'ru _

  
  
  
    She had opened her eyes after the first line and locked her gaze in with Quatre, who was still gaping at her. She didn't notice at first until after she was done singing. The audience gave them a standing ovation and whooped and clapped. Claudine smiled widely, knowing that she was fitting in better now and perhaps breaking the ice wouldn't be quite so awkward.   
    They all sat in their respective places and waited for dinner to be served. Claudine was happy to find she was near the people she knew best. Jasmine was to her left, Quatre to her right, Mr. Winner was on a diagonal and Maisa was across from her. A slow murmur of conversation grew and Claudine felt lost amongst the family references and such… apparently as did Gabriel.   
    "Hey!" he shouted at the end of the table to her.   
    "Hello!" She shouted back. She didn't notice Quatre was still gawking at her. Lord Gabriel shook his head at the fact that they had to shout and rose to talk to her. He walked behind her chair in between her and Quatre.   
    "You look exquisite," he tried. Claudine smiled broadly but she couldn't help thinking, _If only Quatre would say something that nice._ "If I wasn't getting married I'd be courting you right now," he winked playfully, but not seriously enough to offend, only seriously enough to make her eyes go wide and cheeks go several shades darker.   
    Iria raised an eyebrow, "Ahem?" she said loudly enough to make her point. Gabriel smiled at her amorously and bowed.   
    "We shall meet again," his kissed Claudine's hand. Claudine put her head down because she was blushing and it was very uncharacteristic of her. When she had regained her composure not too long afterward she turned to Quatre.   
    Claudine tried her best to be subtle, she really did, "Quatre, how do I look?" It just came out blunt.   
    Quatre had been doing alright maintaining his equanimity. Mostly ignoring Claudine a little helped until she had asked him how she looked. If only he could be as smooth as Gabriel! He looked her up and down and then quickly looked back at her face, _Say something suave!_ his mind screamed. "Ag…" he stuttered out. Mentally he smacked himself in the head. He wasn't used to girls looking good to him, and not Claudine… they were always practicing and sweaty and… okay, she had looked good when he first laid eyes on her but why was he thinking of that?! He shook himself.   
    Claudine looked down at herself, oblivious to Quatre's inner dialogue playing along his face. She sighed, "Yeah, I fought them tooth and nail over the pink… and the makeup, and the whole mid-drift thing but they outnumbered me so…"   
    Seeing as how that had been a joke she had expected Quatre to laugh along with her but he only stared wordlessly. "Quatre?" She looked at him, "Quatre?" she waved her hand in front of his eyes. "I know. It's pink."   
    Suddenly his thoughts came rushing out, "I think you look really beautiful Claudine and I never could have imagined, don't worry about the pink the color looks good on you and I really like the color pink in general and see now we match!" He pointed at them both and took a deep breath, returning to normal.   
    Claudine smiled triumphantly. Next to her Jasmine was talking loudly and turned to talk to her, "I'm telling you!" she finished to Rasha, then she started on Claudine, "Claudine, tell me, don't you think you would look good with a belly piercing?"   
    Claudine's eyes widened and she edged away some, "But- wouldn't that hurt?"   
    Jasmine nodded manically, "Of course, but you would look great. And we can teach you how to belly dance, wouldn't that be nice Quatre?" Jasmine winked.   
    "We're not like that!" Quatre and Claudine said collectively.   
    "They are sooo cute," said Salasa from across the table. She put her hand in front of her mouth and laughed.   
    Claudine tried not to get angry and laughed with quelled rage. Quatre caught this and put a calming hand on her shoulder. Salasa made a squeaking noise and squeaked something that sounded like, "Too cute!"   
    Claudine was amidst biting back a retort when the first course arrived. It was separate beautiful plates of fruit salad and sparkling water. There was a pause in Quatre's happy thoughts, in his house they followed the rules that went with the mage religion of old, there was no drinking. Why didn't he realize it before?! He considered this and then realized that almost the whole city went by that to a certain extent, there was no liquor allowed openly anyway.   
    "Why so glum, Quatre?" Lord Gabriel asked with a full mouth.   
    Quatre looked up but Rasha answered for him, "He's probably thinking about the silly war, right Quatre? What did you find in your food that reminded you of war I'd like to know." The part of the table that heard her laughed.   
    "Actually-" Quatre began.   
    "Why would the war effort be silly?" Claudine couldn't keep herself from asking sharply.   
    "Because despite our efforts the council is going to give in anyway and it's pointless to use violence to stop it," Rasha replied calmly. Claudine tried to say something more before Mr. Winner interceded.   
    "Enough please, I would rather not bring this topic to a celebration."   
    The words died in Claudine's mouth unspoken and she turned to Quatre to whisper a vent besides the fact that his sisters would take it wrong. Her eyes widened when she found him shoveling food into his mouth faster than any other human or elf she had seen. A bead of sweat rolled off her head as she wondered when he would choke. Not _if_… **when**.   
    When Quatre had finished chugging salad (he made it possible) he had turned to Claudine and started a conversation about music as the second course arrived. "I've never heard that language before. Where did you learn that song?"   
    The second course consisted of three platters of meat such as scorpions and surrounded by some sort of tan and gray desert vegetable stuffed with eggs. "My grandmother was from the east. That's the language they speak there. She made sure my mother knew it and my mother taught a lot of it to me. The song is something she used to sing to me about the sea when I missed my father. The song is called 'Sea of Miracles'."   
    Quatre nodded, he loved music, "It sounded so sad… but then it shifted into something more determined. What do the words mean if you don't mind?" He stared at her intently. He was feeling very glad he had someone to share interests with.   
    "Hm.. well, the gist of it is that two people that love each other are separated and one of them will do anything, face anything, to be with the other."   
    "That is so cute," Salasa said across the table.   
    Claudine cringed. To her making that song 'cute' was like defilement. Quatre eased the suffering. "Was it comforting to hear? Your mother singing?" he asked sadly.   
    Claudine furrowed her brow. She knew Quatre's mother was dead, and she also knew Quatre's mother was a mage because she couldn't see Mr. Winner's aura. Therefore she took caution in answering, "I… yes, it was comforting. My mother taught me how to sing."   
    Quatre smiled, "My mother inspired me to learn how to play the violin, although she loved playing the fiddle. It's not my thing." The table had quieted some at that point before both Quatre and Claudine resumed eating ravenously.   
    The third course arrived and even Quatre had to pace himself. This course consisted of the main meal; it was rather soupy with broth but also not soup, just damp. There was the main attraction, the lamb, which was mixed in the soupy gathering of boiled noodles and a limp, leaf-like vegetable. Claudine wondered what she was eating but stuck the food in her mouth anyway. It tasted of salty broth, and sweet lamb. As she chewed there was also the added bonus of bitter vegetable thrown in. It didn't taste bad; nothing at the feast had tasted bad… it was just a new flavor, exotic.   
    Claudine didn't know that there would be so _much_ food. She couldn't eat more than half of the main course. Quatre smiled at her challengingly and continued eating.   
    "What are you, a bottomless pit?" She asked quietly from the side of her mouth.   
    Quatre's feral smile mocked her slightly. "I paced myself. I always eat like this and you didn't even know what you were getting yourself into."   
    Claudine looked around the table. It was true; all of Quatre's relatives were still eating steadily. Claudine glanced at Quatre. He doesn't look like a heavy eater… "Stupid mage metabolism," she muttered. She stayed thin because she was very active. Quatre didn't work out much before meeting Claudine, she could tell. But that meant that Quatre must have had a fast metabolism indeed.   
    Quatre only smiled and muttered, "It's not over yet… there's still dessert." He nodded towards the entrance on the other side of the room from him.   
    In rolled a huge white cake, four lavers high that would only be dwarfed by the actual future wedding cake for Iria and Gabriel, which there were rumors of it being eight or maybe even nine layers. There were small candles on each layer around the edge. Each guest was served a very large slice starting with Gabriel and Iria.   
    Before dessert had ended no one had bothered checking the time. Quatre's father was the first to ask Lovac when it was and discovered that it was an hour past sundown. Tentatively he addressed Claudine, "My dear, not that I would like you to leave, but I was wondering when you would be expected home?"   
    Claudine smiled brightly, almost too brightly, "Anytime, if you'll have me. I live alone so no one is expecting me back."   
    Mr. Winner smiled but inside his heart ached for the girl. She was so lively and sweet. She was polite and intelligent and most of all, she made Quatre happy. "Well, after the feasts usually my family stays over and goes home the next day. You're very welcome to stay as long as you want. We have plenty of rooms."   
    Claudine smile seemed to grow more genuine immediately, "I would be honored to stay!" she shouted as calmly as she could and failed miserably.   
    Mr. Winner smiled at her and dismissed her so that he could make arrangements for an extra room to be ready with Lovac. He then announced that the feast would end shortly and explained to Quatre the arrangements he had made.   
    Quatre, at first was thrilled… then he realized that at his current rate there would be no fending off his sisters. Most embarrassing of all was the small implication his father had made by assigning Claudine a room in the opposite wing of Quatre. _Does he actually believe we'd do something?!_ On the other hand he considered, _Does he really think a wing would stop us if we wanted to?_ He then turned red, wondered where he had inherited that part of his brain from and decided to give up thinking about the subject.   
    Claudine was ecstatic, as soon as Quatre's sisters had heard that she was staying indefinitely they had forgotten to make fun of them and instead concentrated on whose clothes would suit her best for the night. When Jasmine had suggested a skimpy piece of cloth considered 'exotic nightwear', then they started teasing her about Quatre.   
    Claudine sighed and headed towards her new bed, in her new room.   
  
  
OMG this was a loooooooong chapter. And the thing that bothered me was the very end, right at the dessert. I'm sorry if it sucks after that but I just wanted to get this chapter out today!! I wrote this chapter mostly for romance and character building… yea… I know, get on with the plot!!! Well, soon, next chapter is not about Quatre. But I'm not posting it for a while. Not unless I get mad reviews. Which doesn't happen to me very often so… Review Please!   
  
**IMPORTANT NOTES:** I did not think of the song 'Kiseki no Umi' I actually don't know who sang it but I know that CLAMP's Record of Lodoss Wars has rights to it and I think it might have been Deed's seiryuu singing it. It's a beautiful song and I suggest that you dnld it. Here are the English lyrics to the verses/ chorus I had in there that I got from Animelyrics.com:   
  
The dark night sky separates us   
    to lay bare our hearts as they call out to each other.   
     Cast off your useless trappings. Some things can only be seen   
     when you've lost everything.   
  
Oh wind, I will stand and face you!   
    I will go to the sea of anguish,   
     though bonds cut my chest,   
     and the crushing waves are endless.   
  
Oh wind, I will stand and face you!   
     I will go and head for the brilliance.   
     Embracing prayer to my heart,   
     I wander the seemingly dark future.   
  
Oh wind, I am not afraid!   
     Love is the miracle I have found!   
     It's my joy to believe in you.   
     The storm blows so that we might realize [our] love.   
  
**MORE NOTES OF THE INTERESTING BUT NOT QUITE IMPORTANT VARIETY:** Record of Lodoss Wars is a pretty cool fantasy anime by CLAMP, though not nearly as good as Escaflowne in my opinion. But I haven't seen all of it and the OVA was pretty cool. I chose this song 'cause it was fantasy like, fit in with Claudine's character and Claudine loooooved wind stuff. Her chibi form is Kaze-chan - one scary chick, I tell ya.   
    Last note: I discovered myself seeing that people had "Enough reviews" so for a while I got lazy and didn't review if the person had more that … say, 20. First of all, that's not true, If a fic is good, let the author know. If it needs improvement, let the author know etc. You can't really have 'too many reviews' I see fics out there with hundreds of reviews all the time, how do you think they got there? Hm? Well… that was random; I'll stop ranting now. 


	9. The First Destined Meet.

    This fic is now longer than my book, my longest fic, and officially has hit the 50pg mark. Then again, I like to keep it in book antiqua font.   


It has also occurred to me hardly any people are bothering to read this fic. 50 pages… and 13 or so reviews… :glare:

  
Well, we are finally taking a break from Quatre. Let me say something in Wufei's defense: don't go by most fics. He is not how they depict him (sexist, "injustice" the only thing he says, etc.) He is also not as comical as I make him out to be, but he has a fairy attached to him- thusly humor. Plus, I am a person that looks at life in a funny way, and seeing as how this fic will soon get depressing, we need it ne?   
    For my purposes, the language of the east is Japanese… I know… Wufei is Chinese. Don't flame me.   
    **Disclaimer**: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I don't make money from this fic. Therefore- no one sues me, and we are all happy.   
  
    Chapter 9 -The First Destined Meet-   
  
    It was a hot day, and Wufei had decided that it would be best to take a rest and sit in the shade. Mei Ran did NOT agree -but since Wufei was bigger she had no choice in the matter.   
    Mei Ran did not accept this defeat without a fight; she was hardly the kind to. Had she had her powers Wufei would already have been turned into some sort of ugly fat animal that sweats a lot. Then she would ride him back to the Eastern Kingdom and they would eat him in a victory feast. Perhaps not, but these were the thoughts that Mei Ran was entertaining as she glared at an unsuspecting Wufei, who was drinking water.   
    He had become much less pale during their trip across the continent and possessed what might even be described as becomingly tan as compared to the tone he had when he was rich and sheltered with no worries of the sun or hard labor in feasts. As Mei Ran glared at him she noticed that a few droplets of sweat ran down the sides of his face and onto his convulsing neck and she thought he could indeed be described as "becoming".   
    Mentally Mei Ran smacked herself, _Oh I have _got_ to be lonely if even _Wufei_ looks handsome!_ She reminisced instead on the days when she had her powers and a high position in society. Then she could do anything she wanted and she wasn't tied to anyone, be it man, elder, sibling or parent. Unfortunately that was what had gotten her in trouble.   
    _How silly_, she thought, _That the elders should believe that I am unlearned in the art of loving. I love all sorts of things! I love my freedom, and my money…_ She trailed off. Mei Ran wasn't stupid. She had given up these untrue thoughts of how she really loved everything that was shallow and that that should be good enough for the elders. Perhaps spending too much time with the philosophical brute was wearing on her. She knew that she must learn to love someone better than herself. _And those bastard old people stuck me with the worst possible human for such a task! This man is unlovable!_ She went back to glaring at Wufei.   
    "There is an old saying," Wufei mumbled as he relaxed against the tree, "that if you put on an ugly face for a long time, your face will get stuck that way." He evenly returned her look. "I think that is very fitting for you are glaring at me… and for our curse."   
    Mei Ran hadn't practiced such things as philosophy before meeting Wufei, but she did enjoy it. She took interest in his words also because he spoke of the curse.   
    "We both had very nasty faces, we still do, and we were expelled to get rid of them before they got stuck that way before the entire clan."   
    "Either that or at least they will be stuck away from the elders and the influence of children, ne?"   
    "Perhaps, but I think I have made progress on this trip. There is so much time to think, with no one to talk to except some one I cannot get along with," he shot her a meaningful look. "I have time to reflect on my face, and see how I might correct it without yet being able to do so."   
    "It's not my fault we can't get along you know. YOU'RE the antisocial one. I try." She fluttered onto his shoulder.   
    "I suppose you try. But I still don't get along with you. And honestly, when you don't get your way you can be the most annoying little beast I know." Wufei looked at her. His breath ruffled her clothes but she didn't seem to mind.   
    "When you don't talk to me and I want you to, what else am I supposed to do but bother you?"   
    "Leave me alone."   
    "But that's not what I want."   
    "But that's what _I_ want."   
    "So?"   
    "I'm bigger." Wufei stated as if that should have answered all their problems. After all, he was big; she was small. She was weak; he was strong. He didn't understand why she bothered her pathetic retaliation.   
    Then again, little did he realize her "pathetic retaliation" worked just as well as his physical superiority to annoy him.   
    "I know; that's why you always get what you want. Being annoying is my retaliation. I don't have to be." She folded her arms across her chest.   
    "So now you're trying to convince me that you actually are not annoying, you just do it for my benefit?" Mei Ran nodded. "That's pathetic."   
    Mei Ran stomped her foot and flew off Wufei's shoulder. "What's pathetic is that you think that you are more powerful than me!"   
    "I am," he answered without looking at her. "And I don't see why you even bother."   
    Mei Ran was so angry that at first she couldn't even think of enough insults for him so she could spit something out. She grew red in the face, "You are stuck to me as well you dolt! And I am very tired of your cool superior attitude and your expression that you want absolutely no company. I am fed up! I don't care how much thinking you get done, you will never learn to love anyone with that attitude! You need a partner in order to love and you have made it quite obvious you wish to be left alone in hermitage. I know exactly where that will get you, and for that reason you will get your wish!!!!!" She sat on the ground next to him and pretended he did not exist.   
    "You ridiculous little creature, do you think I will miss your company or something?!" Wufei was appalled but Mei Ran made no answer. He quickly shut his mouth and pretended that she did not exist.   
    Just then they heard the trotting of hooves against the dirt road. Both looked to see who was coming and if they might pose a threat. A tall blonde woman wearing a light forest green cloth was riding slowly up the road. She wore loose brown pants or cotton and a white blouse. Her hood was pulled up to protect her head from the sun but two twisted pigtails stuck out over her shoulders and her blue eyes still shown.   
    Being that the two cursed ones were each pretending that the other didn't exist they both had nothing better to look at than the other traveler. As she neared they both turned away because it was a bad idea to engage travelers by staring. Wufei stared straight ahead and watched as the hooves passed him by but he had a strange feeling and couldn't help but look up into the stranger's eyes.   
    Red overtook him and a strong, tense wave of pain made Wufei's whole body convulse. He crumpled and fell to the side from his sitting position. Sally had fallen off her horse with a thump and Mei Ran openly laughed at her since she could not be seen anyway.   
    When Sally looked up, she stared straight at Mei Ran, which made the amusement drain from her face. _Why is she staring at me?_ Mei Ran thought frantically. She looked behind her to see what the woman could be looking at, but there was nothing. _Surely she can't see me?!_   
    "Wasn't that very amusing?" Sally smiled. "Though it was kind of rude of you to laugh." She turned to Wufei. "Are you okay?"   
    Wufei looked up into the stranger's kind eyes and winced a little. She was talking to him, but he couldn't understand her, and there was no way Mei Ran would be willing to translate since she didn't exist.   
    Sally gasped after looking the younger man over, _Why, he's from the Eastern Empire!_ Sally quickly switched to her native language. "Daijoubu?"   
    Mei Ran and Wufei glanced sharply up. She had used the language of the Eastern Empire as well as she used trader's language. Without willing it Wufei answered in his own language, "Aa, daijoubu." He stood up in likeness to her, "Are you okay, you fell from your horse."   
    "I'm sure I'm fine," Sally asked with a wide smile. "It's been so long since I've talked in my own tongue, how I've missed it!" They stared at her in shock. "By the way," she asked Wufei, "Are you aware that there is a fairy three feet from us?"   
    Again, Mei Ran and Wufei gasped. Wufei looked from left to right, "You can see her too?" He had been tempted to show just how much he was ignoring Mei Ran by saying that he didn't even see her but the foolishness had to stop somewhere. No one else but Wufei was supposed to be able to see Mei Ran. If the woman before him possessed some sort of magick stronger that fairy magick then she might be a dangerous magickal creature- or worse, a mage! Suddenly his hand itched to reach for the katana he had laid down by the tree and unconsciously it inched its way there.   
    Sally was smiling brightly, "Yes, I can see her. Why are you surprised? Do you know her? Is she not supposed to be seen?" Sally hoped she wasn't being too obvious about fishing around for answers as to whether or not this was the one she was looking for. He was the first foreigner with a fairy she had seen her whole trip. Some strange magick feeling had come over her and led her to the road she had been traveling. She followed her feelings, considering them destiny. There was further evidence that he was the one because her feeling had gotten stronger the closer she was apparently getting to him and the shock of pain that had swept her when their eyes finally met. Surely this was the one.   
    _Well, isn't she eager to answer questions?_ Wufei thought darkly. He decided to return a question coldly to her, "What was that feeling?"   
    Sally was taken aback by his icy question but she was ready to answer it until she realized his hand was going slowly and inconspicuously toward the sword by the tree. She quickly rethought the fact that this was the destined one and prepared her mind for a sudden attack. Without realizing it her muscles tensed.   
    Wufei saw her tense and wondered briefly whether or not she might cast a spell. He cast away the thought and instead thought, _she can't if she's dead!_ He flew back and clasped his sword.   
    She only needed that one flicker of his eyes to know he would attack and only the time of a blink of an eye to turn about and unsheathe her sword from its place on her horse. She spun and saw that he was already attacking her shoulder. Without flipping her sword up she blocked with enough force that the content would have a kickback and she would have time to hold her sword properly.   
    Wufei was mildly annoyed but not worried. She was the first woman ever to block him once and no one had survived his attacks more than four times. He attacked quickly to her hip but she managed to block yet again. He attacked with a reverse handed swipe at her head, he thought, much to fast for her to block.   
    _This one will kill me,_ she thought. She used her last defense, the fastest thing she could do, and fell backwards. He missed her head by only an inch.   
    Wufei was angry now; this woman was surely using magick! He stayed his hand with difficulty after the swing followed through and looked at the woman. She had fallen onto her back into a position that was undefendable. He closed a second hand around his hilt and brought the butt up to his left shoulder in a downward thrusting position. He took one step forward and thrust.   
    Sally did the only thing she could. He had made the mistake of stepping so that one foot was between her sprawled ankles and now she brought her legs together and twisted her whole body. His katana sunk deeply into the flesh in her arm but he did miss her heart and stumbled forward. She cried out in pain.   
    Now desperation clutched Sally. She knew there was no way to win this fighting and that he would kill her without hesitation when she lost. She searched her mind for something to save herself.   
    _" What was that feeling?"_   
    His last question, perhaps if she answered it… "DESTINY!" she cried as loudly as she could. Wufei had been rushing towards her with his sword ready.   
    "Nani?" Wufei's steps faltered and his sword lowered but his guard didn't.   
    "D-d-d-destiny was that feeling! You and I were destined to meet! That's why I was led to you, that feeling let me know… you are a dragon pilot! I was sent to find you!" She breathed heavily, her arm was bleeding profusely but luckily he hadn't cut her major vein or artery.   
    Wufei looked at her with contempt, just another lie to save her life. And yet, why had he stopped on the side of the road? Mei Ran really was right, they should have kept moving and he had no explanation for why they should stop because suddenly a strange feeling had come over him. Instead of killing her he asked, "Who sent you?"   
    Sally breathed only slightly easier that he wasn't killing her, "The old advisors of the Sanc Kingdom. The leaders of the Southern Republic."   
    Wufei's knowledge of the conflict was little and he only knew of some of the things that Mei Ran translated for him. He had nothing to do with his revolution at all. And where was the Sanc Kingdom? "Why?"   
    Sally clutched her arm and sat up straighter, "They believe in this prophesy of Dragon pilots who will stop the tyranny of the Zodiac Kingdom and lead the Southern Republic to victory. I was found as one of the chosen ones and forced to look for you. According to the prophecy I was to find, 'The foreigner with the fairy curse'. You are as close as there is to that description."   
    Wufei pointed the katana at her neck threateningly. She glared back at him with courageous, cold eyes though her heart beat rapidly. "I should kill you if you are lying. Are you a mage?"   
    Sally blinked at him, and then laughed. "A mage? Stars no, I'm a doctor! I have no magickal ability at all. Is that why you attacked me, you thought I was a mage?!" more nervous laughter. It was a well-known fact that doctors disliked magick and things contestable by science.   
    After Wufei took a moment or two to read the woman he finally pulled back his katana. "Leave us," he commanded. He then walked back to Mei Ran and said very sharply, "We are leaving now." She could have argued but the idea of complying with his wishes seemed all the more desirable when he held a sword…   
    Mei Ran fluttered to Wufei's shoulder and they started walking down the road, leaving behind Sally. "You're a doctor… you should be fine then," Wufei called without looking at her. He bent to wipe the blood on his katana off on the grass and continued.   
    Sally might have been thinking clearer if she were not injured but she didn't waste too much time staring after them in shock. She decided that she could not openly discuss this matter with the man Wufei and instead quickly stood to mount her horse. She had no time to stop and bandage her wound, she decided. _I'll ride slowly behind them and wrap it as I go. When I convince them we will stop and I will clean it up then._ She scurried onto her horse (not without wincing) and began a slow pace a good distance behind the pair. Once she had ripped up the end of one of her shirts and tied it (she had sworn Wufei to hell several times by then - she had liked that shirt) around her wound she caught up with the traveling couple.   
    "Hello there," she said as pleasantly as she could. She pushed the thought of the ripped shirt away.   
    "I told you to leave us alone," Wufei said coldly.   
    Sally frowned but tried to stay pleasant, "It's still a free road, we're a step ahead of the Zodiac Kingdom." It was a joke… but completely lost one its audience.   
    "That does not mean you have to talk to us. I spared your life, now spare me your incessant dribble." Wufei looked straight ahead.   
    _Ohoho… revenge my dear boy,_ Mei Ran saw the perfect opportunity to annoy her companion.   
    Oblivious to this, Sally was scandalized by Wufei's uncouth remark.   
    "Wu-baka," intoned Mei Ran, "Don't speak for me, you have no right. And you can't say 'I'm bigger' because you are stuck with me and I dare say this woman is much bigger than either of us seeing as how she has a horse." Mei Ran fluttered away from Wufei before he made a grab for her. He glared as she flew out of reach, but just within the realm of the curse and as close as she could get to the woman. "He's a dreadful person to be cursed with and I haven't spoken to anyone but him in months. It would be wonderful if we could get to know one another," Mei Ran said half with sincerity and half to annoy Wufei.   
    "That would be pleasant," Sally said half with sincerity and half with the realization that the fairy was the weak link to get to the boy. "My name is Sally Po, and you?"   
    "_Mei Ran_," she emphasized, the remark was directed more towards Wufei than Sally. "Nice to meet you."   
    "Same here."   
    "So," asked Mei Ran curiously, she was willing to talk about anything after only having Wufei to talk to for months, "What were you yelling about destiny and prophecies or something?"   
    "Ah! I'm glad you asked. Well, you do know about the war, don't you?"   
    "That silly thing? A little," Mei Ran dismissed, oh how she missed meaningless feminine conversation!   
    "Silly?" Sally tried not to get angry. "I dare say the war's not silly. Do you find slavery a trifling matter?"   
    Mei Ran tilted her head, "Humans have always owned other humans… it's the way things are. Even if you abolish the slavery, it will still exist," Mei Ran speculated.   
    Sally was put off from the idea that the war was meaningless and Wufei began to listen. It was seldom he heard an intelligent comment he agreed with out of Mei Ran's mouth unless he had initiated it. "I would argue with you on that if I thought you were wrong… but slavery has to stop somewhere. It has reached its limit. And if a war is necessary, I will fight it."   
    Mei Ran gave her a sidelong glimpse. She really did not want to continue the soon to be morbid discussion of war, and the only option of talking left open to her would provoke just that. She had to choose between listening to this rebel rant about war or not to talk at all and give Wufei piece of mind.   
    "What limit do you speak of?" Mei ran asked with fake interest. Off to the side Wufei rolled his eyes and hoped that they would shut up soon.   
    Sally smiled, she had accomplished her goal and she began to speak, "Slavery has become cruel and torturous. In the older days slavery wasn't so bad; it was some one's lot in life. But now, it's not the same. The disposition of slaves is less like a payless occupation and more of an outlet for violence. I will do everything within my power to stop it."   
    The other had been trying to listen seeing as how it was her first conversation in a while that didn't involve hitting Wufei in some way. However, she had no real interest in the subject and counted herself unlucky to have met up with this particular woman who wanted to talk of nothing but this war. She only played on the last sentence of the woman's speech that had sunk in and what she had said before. "So you are involving yourself in a war you need not become involved in. Don't you see it as futile?"   
    Seeing as how Mei Ran wasn't contributing much to the conversation or listening and all Sally's words were directed at Wufei anyway, Sally tried to quell her anger at Mei Ran's flippancy by clenching her jaw. She continued, "What I see," her jaw loosened, "is children, wives and mothers saying goodbye to their loved ones on the way to work -never to return. I see people without homes strangely disappearing from the street as more and more slaves are showing up in manual labor. I see an increase in jobless freemen and another increase in freeless jobmen. Slaves are put to work until they die of starvation or over exertion. The conditions they live in were asphyxiating. I see young women, freed slaves, walking around with hungry, soulless looks, angry at the world. Political enemies have each other captured and evaporate into a sea of slavery so that those of noble blood now drink swamp water and lie in pools of their own feces." Mei Ran had by now turned her full attention on the passionate woman and gave a face of disgust not yet pity. "Ladies of once noble esteem, and any young attractive girls are raped before being sold." Wufei and Mei Ran jerked, Wufei less noticeably so. "Their traders murder the people they sell them to, then rape them and sell them again. Babies born through slavery are abandoned… or killed on the spot. Now I see that slave trade has moved towards the Northern Kingdom and the sick, weak and the too young or dying are fed to the-"   
    "Stop!" cried Mei Ran, unable to contain herself. "Please stop. No one wants to hear of such things." She felt sick and disturbed and suddenly wished to talk about flowers or… or anything but this! She shivered, being disturbed to her very core. Still her thoughts continued on the subject, _What fools, what beasts these humans are! It does not concern me yet… it's so, it's so-_   
    Sally was no longer content even though she was able to deliver her point. Talking of why she was fighting the war was not nearly as pleasant as talking about _how_ she could fight the war. "Well," she said shortly, "that is why I fight. I may be weak. It might be futile, but I will not stop fighting for what is right to the best of my ability." She looked at Wufei, "If the best of my ability is recruiting your ability, so be it."   
    Wufei remained silent, but Mei Ran had heard nothing of Sally's last exclamation. She was still shaken, having taken the strangers words to heart. _Surely,_ she brokenly convinced herself, _Surely they aren't, couldn't be, so bad. It must be a lie. She must have been fooled. No humans I know could do this… not even Wufei._ She clung to the idea, _Yes, Wufei is the worst human I know abd even _he_ could not be so- so… despicable._   
    Now both ladies of the party awaited the dark-haired one's reply. Wufei was trying hard to ignore their stares and pretend he had heard none of it, that he had thoroughly been ignoring them, but he knew it showed he had heard for he was deep in thought and after such a speech, he knew it would not do to make no reply.   
    He answered with truth as always, "None of this…" he saw Mei Ran looking at him with a sense of trust he had never seen, "concerns us. You choose to involve yourself in this war when it has nothing to do with our country, but I do not. My concerns are very simple nowadays." Wufei glanced at Mei Ran to see if she disapproved but could not see any negative feeling there. "I am cursed. I wish not to be cursed. And I am traveling as far away from my country in disgraced banishment as I can until I find my answer. Then I shall return to my country. I wish to have nothing to do with things that will distract me from my goal, it will not do me any good."   
    Despite herself, Sally's jaw dropped. "After I've said all this… you still cling to the fact that none of it involves you?"   
    Wufei still did not look at her but he nodded. He could not look at her for fear that he would consciously realize that he was wrong… and his mind wanted to avoid that.   
    Sally snorted with absolutely no humor. What she felt could be described as disbelief, but that would not convey her disappointment in the human race and her own fellow countryman in particular. "Your destiny does involve you. Can you not ride on that?" she tried. She really wanted to hear the words of agreement from his mouth that would restore her confidence in her mission.   
    If everyone wanted Wufei's support in the matter they were looking to the wrong place. Wufei was confused and lost in general, and had never had the clarity of mid either of his companions had. The pressure that he felt because of their dependence on him confused and irritated him for he had no idea what he should do and, using Sally's wording, the only thing he could 'ride' on, was logic. He did not want to think about the terrible things he had heard and yet knew that there was no way around it. On the other hand, logic and sympathy screamed for him to do _something_ in light of the situation and seeing as how they had conflicting conclusions his mind was being of no help at all.   
    Unfortunately for Sally, Wufei won the long battle against Wufei's emotions for the reason that thinking logically with the head and not with the heart hurt so much less and the guilt did not stare one right in the face with such fierceness. "You have your answer, now you may leave," Wufei was surprised at the coldness in his voice, "but I advise you, you are weak and this is pointless, the best course of action is for you to stop."   
    Had Wufei apologized for his cowardice and still refused her offer, but started making many endless excuses as to why he just _couldn't_ help her, Sally would have been so much more depressed and put off by him. But, she saw, he had answered with avoiding reason and a lost look in his eyes. The things that he had said, insulting things instead of excuses, fueled her anger and determination so that she did not find it necessary to give up. If anything she still saw hope that the boy might be turned with more persuasion and her courage and fortitude was far from extinguished.   
    She continued her pace next to the couple on the road and it was not a very long period of silence before Wufei asked, "Why are you still here?"   
    She was so confirmed that his affronting comment could have made her laugh, but she drew upon her determination and looked him straight in the eye. Even if he refused to look at her she was sure he felt her stare.   
    "I am determined in my destiny."   
    Wufei's eyes widened and he turned to finally look at her.   
    "Whether you like it or not."   
    Everything was going so slowly as blue eyes met black.   
    "We share this destiny."   
    Wufei could almost feel himself smile.   
    "Whether you like it or not."   
    And for the first time since Wufei's mother had died a decade ago, Chang Wufei seemed to show a gleam of respect towards this woman he had met only an hour ago.   
  
  
  
    WAI! I hope you're enjoying this; I love writing it. It's not where I wanted to end but I'm leaving for 11 days to go to England on Friday and I wanted to post before I left. It seems like a good place to end and the chapter would have gone on for another 7 pages at least if I hadn't stopped. I have the chapters planned out in my mind. The next chapter is going to be Wufei/Sally/Mei Ran again. The one after that will have the whole gang thus far: W/S/MR/Q/C. I'm saying this because for all you non-Wufei/Quatre fans there's not going to be anything else for a while, though this is not fic with only them. I love all the G-boys equally (okay, Duo then Heero slightly more) but they will be a while coming. I promise interesting plot twists etcetera so keep reading.   
    Thank you for your reviews and your support:   
Soccertwins: sorry! No Trowa or Duo for a while.   
Iyame: ditto about Duo. 


	10. A Match Made in Hell.

Sorry this took so long, it only took me a day to write but I went away to England for a week and wrote a very long chapter in Kenshin in Space. I've decided to switch it up, so the next chapter might introduce a new character.   
  
  
    "Is she gone yet?" Wufei asked with as much vehemence he could muster, but it's hard to muster vehemence into anything when it's the 60th time you've said it that day.   
    "I'm just behind and to the right of you," Sally said amiably as she could after hearing him out rightly ask if she was gone for the 60th time.   
    "I know."   
    "Not very good at subtlety, are you?"   
    Wufei growled.   
    Mei Ran was rather glad that she had a partner that was as tall as Wufei on her side and minded not the presence on the girl. In fact, one could say she kind of liked her.   
    "Don't you like _anyone_?" Sally queried.   
    There was a long following silence except for Mei Ran's constant humming of 'Wufei the Mighty', which she kept up all the time because she knew it drove Wufei insane.   
    "Can we at least stop for a moment or two for my to wrap my wound so it doesn't become infected?" Sally tested her arm experimentally.   
    "You can stop if you want." Wufei sped his pace up a little.   
    Swiftly Sally was again ahead of the warrior. As he walked by she began, "Look at it this way: I'm not going away and if my arm gets infected with gangrene with will start to smell horrible but I will continue to follow you with it. Best let me tend to't now than try to make me leave."   
    "You are not one of our party and I do not want you here, why would I wait for you to try and figure out how to care for your arm? No." Wufei didn't look at her.   
    "Wufei!" Mei Ran scolded.   
    "It's okay," quelled Sally. "For your information I am a qualified doctor and this wound is easily dressed if dressed quickly. You are more stubborn than any mule I ever say, didn't I just say I would follow you regardless?"   
    Wufei continued to walk stubbornly.   
    Mei Ran shook her head, she had been saving this measure for a more desperate time, but considering Sally's condition she opened her mouth. Even with the curse she could gather enough magic for the most base of fairy instinct: (Keep in mind Mei Ran was sitting right on his shoulder when-) she started screaming. It was as if she was singing a very high note, for her scream didn't waver with distress but pierced the brain.   
    Wufei started and tried to jump away but she held fast to his shoulder and he did not escape the sound. Next he tried to swat her away but she skillfully dodged, grabbed and rolled out of his reach while never halting her scream.   
    Even though she had her hands over her ears Sally heard Wufei yell loudly in a frustrated voice, "MAKE HER STOP!"   
    Sally was not fool enough to disregard the opportunity Mei Ran had purposefully given her, and so she ran with it, "YOU HAVE TO STOP FOR ME!"   
    Wufei was as fed up with women as he could get, but he knew he was stuck with both of them. _And curse them_, he thought, _because the only way you can get them to shut up is to do what they want you to._ At the moment, curse or no, he never EVER wanted to find happiness and love with a woman, he would rather kill Mei Ran to rid himself of the curse, but he complied, "FINE!" He reconsidered, Mei Ran was practically immortal and had a magic shield… but he could always kill himself- ah, comforting thoughts of death and peace…   
    "PLEASE?!" Sally shouted, her arm hurt profusely from lifting it to her ears and she was just as eager for Mei Ran to stop as Wufei was… well, maybe not quite.   
    Mei Ran immediately stopped and flew off her cursed partner with a speed that rivaled mortal's eyes. She was lucky and right to do so because the first thing Wufei did was to make a grab for her with both hands. Wufei jumped around chasing the invisible fairy with a scowl a few more times before he gave up and calmed. Sally had already started to treat her wound in the meantime.   


***Later that Day***

  
    Wufei pulled out his water skin and squeezed, but the air that blew into his mouth only served to further his thirst on that warm and sunny day. The company was still heading east and as they neared desert areas streams were more scarce and the climate more stifling.   
    After a battle of wits and a lot of yelling Mei Ran and Sally had convinced Wufei to load some of his stuff onto the horse -which settled the matter that Sally was tagging along- and along with the cooking gear Wufei had hung his spare water skin. So he moved closer to Sally's horse and searched for the skin, but he found none. Sally noticed him when he moved to the other side and plucked it out of a pocket. Had he been looking at Sally he would have noticed her eyes had gone wide.   
    Wufei repeated his earlier actions and squeezed a spurt of water into his mouth that then faded into air… the skin was empty. He gave a sharp look up to Sally, who was avoiding his eyes. He cleared his throat, "Sally," to his surprise his voice sounded dangerous but low, he hadn't realized he was unconsciously being quiet so not to bother the sleeping Mei Ran on his shoulder.   
    Sally acknowledged him.   
    "What happened to all the water?"   
    Sally paused, knowing she was at fault and apologized, "I didn't know it was all we had. I used it to dress my wound…" her manner indicated she really was sorry, perhaps that was one of the reasons Wufei stayed calm.   
    He turned to look at the road ahead and radiated anger, "We'll need to stop for water then," he said through his teeth.   
    "I am sorry," Sally repeated.   
    "Don't speak to me." Wufei feared that he could not hold his calm if one more word passed through that woman's lips.   
    Sally nodded. After another long period of silence in which they were both thinking Sally came to a conclusion, "I'll ride ahead and look for a brook or stream, well or maybe a town that will have water."   
    "Our best bet is a town," Wufei said coldly. His breath could have caused steam in the air. Without another word Sally rode off in a cloud of dirt mixed with sand, through a winding trail hidden by trees from Wufei's view. Soon after she returned with a smile.   
    "There's a village sign not too far ahead, only about a five minute walk."   
    "Good."   
    Sally's smile faded. She had hoped that with a little time his attitude toward her would improve at least a small amount. She felt that she had done nothing to deserve his hate. People make mistakes… She had not previously known someone could be so bull headed over nothing, but instead of angering her she only saddened a little. In addition to that, how could she convince him to help her if he despised her with so much passion.   
    Wufei would talk to Mei Ran, Sally would talk to Mei Ran, Sally would talk to Wufei, and when Mei Ran was awake Wufei would address both of them but for the next ten minutes they both proceeded in silence. Sally had made an attempt to speak to him at the sign but he had ignored her and turned left silently.   
    Sally was infinitely glad when with a cough Mei Ran awoke unceremoniously. She looked around and blinked. "What's this-" she started.   
    Wufei was also glad she was awake, "We ran out of water and so we're going to a village to get some more."   
    Mei Ran frowned, something unpleasant had happened while she was asleep, "Well, that's very nice, Mr. Chang, but what I was going to ask was what was that awful smell?"   
    To Sally's relief Wufei reacted normally, "Are you saying I smell?! I didn't want you on my shoulder, you just made yourself at home so don't say that I-"   
    "Buffoon!" She smacked Wufei's shoulder, "I wasn't talking about you, I smell burning you ass."   
    Wufei had begun to glare at her until he heard her say, 'burning'. Sally gasped, she then tried breathing in to sniff the air, "I don't smell anything."   
    Mei Ran fluttered off Wufei's shoulder and stretched, "You wouldn't, but to me its as strong smelling as Wufei's sweat. Fairies have sensitive senses," she coughed, "You'll be smelling it soon."   
    Sally thought frantically, "Could it be the village is burning?" Mei Ran shrugged but Sally hardly waited for a reply. She sped up the road towards the village in order to help.   
    When she was gone Wufei rolled his eyes and happened to study the ground. It was harder to see in the sand but to a trained eye it was pretty clear there had been hundreds marching through the path recently. The fire in the village was no ordinary fire. Mei Ran noticed what he was looking at and panicked, "Wufei! If they see Sally she's in trouble!" as an afterthought she added, "And they'll have our cooking gear!"   
    Wufei considered not heeding her and continuing to be stubborn but Mei Ran pounded on his upper arm with fierce concern, "Wufei!!"   
    Wufei sighed and started jogging steadily and stealthily down the road. Mei Ran had been right, almost immediately Wufei could smell the smoke. The path opened up more towards the end and Wufei took more caution, he stepped into the edge of the woods and peered out from there.   
    It was hard to see because of the smoke but the first thing Wufei noticed were the groans of dying people. None of them had enough energy to be a scream, but would have been given more power. Some were barely audible and drawn out, others cracked and hissed with the feel as if their throats had been cooked beyond repair. There was the underlying rising and falling of coughs that was ever present. Still others cried out now and again with actual words that Wufei could not comprehend but Mei Ran shivered. He turned to her and her eyes had gone wide.   
    _"Water… Wate- wa…ter…"   
    "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Where's mommy?"   
    "Help…! Help me… I can't feel my chest… there's a… my…"
_   
    Many of them were crying and some wailed for their family members. A strong wind blew and the smote moved enough for Sally's large shadow upon her horse to become visible.   
    "Sally!" Mei Ran called out, her voice cracked and her throat burned from the smoke. She coughed several times and blinked her tearing eyes. The smoke had made even blinking painful. Mei ran would have fluttered forward but she was scared to smell even stronger the pungent stench of charred flesh among other things. Suddenly Sally rode forward and disappeared into the smoky air.   
    "What the hell is she thinking," spoke Wufei to Mei Ran's surprise. She sought to look at his face and didn't bother to hide her disgust as the voices of the dying rang in her ears and the smell of the dead filled her nostrils.   
    "We have to do something to help," she commanded. Wufei turned to protest but saw the abhorrence written on her face and was drawn back.   
    "Like what?" he settled for, he was not as cold hearted as he tended to appear and was by no means unaffected by their surroundings.   
    Mei Ran looked back towards the smoke filled area, "Anything…" she spoke louder, "We must do anything, you can't hear but," she faltered, "well, they're asking for water…"   
    Wufei didn't respond immediately, "We don't have water."   
    Mei Ran stared at him questioningly; she had the desire to help the people, but not one desire to go out into the clouded abyss. She was not used to risking herself for anyone else and yet, couldn't help but realize that she was in a much better position than anyone else she could hear or see. She wasn't sure she could bring herself to go out there and she wasn't sure if she could bear it, knowing that she had the power to simply give these people water and just let them die thirsty and crying, helpless. Her face became distressed, but she managed to force out, "We came to find water."   
    Wufei had no time to analyze the situation, but he knew that that was all he needed to stand and walk guardedly into the opaque screen. He continued to walk straight until the smoke cleared some and he could see through watery eyes that there was a second level to the village that was not on fire and gave off no smoke. After the first layer of smoke that was caused by the houses burning in close quarters there were steps leading into a valley that was carved into giant ledges. There were less houses and more homes built into the walls of the valley. This, they realized is where Sally disappeared into.   
    At the bottom of the steps were piled of dead bodies, charred and seeped in blood. These gave off a whole new scent that made Mei Ran turn and heave. Wufei pitied her because it was so much more overpowering for her. The doors of the cave houses had been left opened and the insides obviously looted. The next drop, Mei Ran realized, was not a feat of nature. There had been a roof over the lowest part of the city that served as a floor to the second level and it had been completely destroyed during the attack, it had caved in to the bottom and killed who knows how many.   
    At one time the village must have been beautiful, gardens were built on the roofs of the small temple-like steps of the cave entrances that were overflowing with flowers that were now blackened and dead, still burning or completely gone. Many of the statues were strewn on the ground and in pieces and everywhere there were piles of the dead hideously mutilated or unrecognizable as flesh because of their charred state. Even though the upper layers were where the flames resided, the lower levels were bereft of any living being.   
    Unfortunately, the only water that was visible to Mei Ran was a small red pool blooming from under the rocks on the last level. The two had been hoping not to need to go down there but it was the only well in the entire village. The steps leading down were hidden under a great pillar that had held the roof up and so Wufei had to find makeshift steps of large blocks of slate and rock that he could jump down upon. The true bottom was almost unreachable for some time and Wufei traveled over the broken blocks on slants and ragged pieces towards the place where water had been spotted.   
    The smell of blood now haunted the companions. The dead under their feet had not been burned but crushed and every now and then they spotted a cold bloody limb poking out of the rocks or slipped in some blood. When the well was finally reached they could see why there was a pool, most of a part of the wall was gone but water remained. Wufei saw that in the spilt water there was blood flowing to be eventually absorbed by the sand but tried not to look to where the source of blood was. He was not curious to know in the least whether or not the nightmares he had already witnessed could get any worse.   
    The reason the ground was reachable was that this was the area where the roof hadn't all fallen. True, part of it had hit the well but beyond that there were no more large chunks. Wufei was glad to find that much of the stone had fallen into the water and contaminated it. The water was mostly clear and in any case better than nothing. At the sight of the water he remembered how thirsty he was himself and that all the work he had done within the sweltering heat of the fires had caused him to sweat profusely and crave relief.   
    He jumped precariously, with his eyes focusing mainly on the water to avoid looking at anything unpleasant. One of the well's rocks was loose and Wufei fell into the muddied sand, staining his white clothes with a watery pink-red. He cursed loudly and began to stand up when he heard Mei Ran's horrified shriek. It made him tremble with fear and his heart leapt into his throat. He nerves were on end as it was, and fairy shrieks were magically enforced, in this case, with emotion. Some of the fear that Mei Ran felt transferred to Wufei through the scream; his grip on the well tightened painfully.   
    He swallowed before regretfully looking to see if Mei Ran was okay. What he saw brought him a wave of nausea and he turned around to dry heave. Cold sweat met previous perspiration on his forehead as a chill ran through his whole body. Mei Ran wept near by but Wufei couldn't gain control just yet.   
    The blood that had mixed with the water near the well had belonged to an unfortunate that had been trying to put out the fire attached to his skin when the roof had fallen. His head was gone, completely destroyed under the large rock and left behind a crushed and detached neck spurting blood till there was none left. Blood and brain fluids stained the sand around where the skull would have been. In his burned hand was a crushed water jug.   
    Luckily Wufei had had no food or water in his stomach and he was able to calm his stomach, but not his racing heart. "Mei Ran…" he beckoned her. He heard sobbing and the flutter of wings and then felt the familiar weight of his friend on his shoulder. Only then could he blink repeatedly and look again for the well. He stumbled a little and knelt to splash water on his face and drink some. His nausea subsided.   
    With shaky hands Wufei filled up both his water skins. Remembering his last water skin, he glanced at the ground to see if Sally had been here before him and when he discovered other footprints he was too numb to feel anything but recognized that he would find her.   
    Now more than ever, Wufei felt exhausted. The nerves and adrenaline that had been running through his body took their toll along with the heat and horrors that he had seen. He felt weak but his body complied when he forced it to make its way back to the second level. Fearsomely before they could make it to where they would go back up to safety there was an insistent pounding on the door blocked by a rock that Wufei had leaned on temporarily. Wufei, of course, jumped back, which was timely for him because as soon as he did a spear pierced through the door screeching to a halt. Wufei put up his guard but twisted his ankle in the process and fumbled for his katana.   
    The spear was shoved several more times before a rather large hole was made and a man behind the door shouted to them. "Let me out! Please, good people, let me out!" He stuck his arm through the whole and grabbed at Wufei. "Please don't leave, I'll die!! Don't go!" The hand was pulled inside again and the spear worked at a different part of the door. When a hole was made there he pulled a good potion of the plank out. Both parties were breathing heavily. The man was completely bald and had large, sagging eyes. His arms were lank and his face frantic.   
    Once he saw outside though he stopped and teared, then let out a long stream of curses. "They've destroyed it all, those bastards!!! Everything, everyone, killed 'em all, destroyed it all!!" He moaned and cried into his arm inside and then his head appeared. "Who're you? You're not them? You're not them." Wufei swiveled his confused head to look at Mei Ran for a translation. She translated. Wufei directed himself to the man and shook his head.   
    The man nodded, "Not them." Tentatively Wufei started to pull at the planks of wood when suddenly the man gasped with such ferocity that Wufei jumped back again. "No, no. Don't help me. No. I'll get out or I'll die, it doesn't matter anymore," Mei Ran gasped and translated, "But!" He swiftly reached out and grabbed Wufei's arm strongly to pull him closer. Wufei struggled against the madman but to no avail, "But! But-but-but-but, there is something you can do," he said in Wufei's ear, which meant nothing to Wufei until translated, "YOU must go ahead, yes? They march for Quatrica, yes. One man can outrun them all, you must warn Quatrica- the Zodiac Kingdom is coming for them. Tell them. You MUST!" The man shook Wufei a little, "They mustn't get Quatrica, no. NO! You must warn them, warn the resistance." Wufei finally broke free and scrambled away in shock. "Go!" The man pointed to the rocks that led up, "Go now! Save the Dragon!!!"   
    Slowly at first, and then once he turned his back quickly, Wufei ran like mad to upper grounds with Mei Ran on his shoulder, translating as he did so.   
    "Too much," he said decidedly as he sat on the ground upon reaching the second level. Mei Ran was rubbing her temples. "This is too much."   
    Mei Ran looked at him with some affection. He seemed younger and more innocent then she ever deemed possible. She preferred him over any other human most definitely. He, at least, could be surprised and disgusted at his species behavior. If he had acted any other way she would have given up all hope on the race called humans.   
    "Wufei… I think it would be wise if we were to find Sally."   
    Wufei let out half a choked back sob and buried his head in his hands. So they sat in silence for a few minutes with Mei Ran squeezing his shoulder and neither of them wanting to go back to the first level.   
    Only when Mei Ran, with her superior eyes, saw that the sky had started to get darker did she urge them to find Sally once more. They climbed the steps once more to the smoke filled layer, which had cleared some, and began searching for Sally's horse hopefully with Sally as well. The voices had died down… literally died out. Sometimes they would come across a visible corpse or bump into one but they had learned not to be halted by it to prolong the horror.   
    Sally was not in the vicinity of the burning buildings, but it seemed that the village did have a militia of some sort that did try to put up a fight and Sally as well as her horse were right in the middle of the battlefield. They stepped over the countless bodies towards the doctor. The militia had been at least fifty strong; it wasn't nearly strong enough. Here the smoke was less and voices could still carry.   
    Sally was giving water to the dying soldiers on both sides. "Why," asked Wufei angrily, "would you save them… why?"   
    She turned her tear stained face to him to show her face void of any emotion. "Because, not one of them is going to live, and no one deserves to die thirsty."   
    He continued to stare at her with vehemence, choosing to blame her for how he was feeling at the moment, but she would not concede. _Is she had not used that water- we would never have come here._ He would never forgive her, he decided.   
    Mei Ran recognized how he looked and got his attention. "'s not her fault, Wufei. If you want to blame right now, blame Zodiac." They started to help Sally feed the dying water for as long as they were still alive. Sometimes Wufei put some of the men out of their misery and all the time he thought about any of it his hate for Zodiac grew. It looked like the Zodiac Kingdom had combed through the remains once and killed the leaders of the village in the most painful and showy ways possible. At one point he found himself swearing that when he fought a Zodiac of high status he would split _him_ from throat to pelvic bone and see how their army would like it. Soon after thinking that he felt so ashamed of himself that he had to cover his face with a hand until his throat stopped constricting. At times like that Mei Ran took a break from flitting around to see who was still alive and sat on Wufei's shoulder to mourn. By sundown they had to move out and make camp.   
    None of the group had felt more drained before in their life. They dragged their feet all the way to the brush and practically fell down when they were past the smell near a patch of grass. They all lay on the grass with eyes to the sky without sleeping or talking for a time. Wufei, after dwelling of the images burned into his memory and tuning over his hate, finally spoke up.   
    "We met someone on the lower level."   
    For once he was met with silence, "He was trapped, but he insisted that we hurry on ahead of the army to warn Quatrica that the army is coming." Silence still. "He also mentioned, that we should save the dragon."   
    Sally shifted onto her side and looked at Wufei. She had tears in her eyes, "Will you go?"   
    Wufei blinked, there was not a doubt in his mind when he answered, "Yes."   
  
  
My worst fear is that this chapter sucked, and it just made people angry because I did a bad job with it. :sigh: I don't think I'll continue this if I suck at writing things that are supposed to reach people and possibly disturb them. Unfortunately, it's important. **I really need you're feedback on this.** If I don't get any reviews I'm afraid I'll have to consider that as 'you suck, stop writing.'   
  
I don't particularly enjoy writing stuff like this, because it's depressing, but I feel it's necessary for the fic to work. If I do it badly as well I don't see the point in continuing. **Or at least I'd like to know how I can improve**. Thanks. 


	11. Just kinda random.

Surprise Ayanami-chan! Sorry if it's a let down.   
  
Dragon Wars chapter 11: Just kinda random.   
  
    He wasn't drunk you see, because he couldn't possibly be drunk. He wasn't even tipsy. The liquor wasn't effecting him at all but it was absolutely necessary that he pretend to be _very_ drunk, because otherwise they would figure out he wasn't human. If they figured out he was an elf they would kill him (or try) because that would mean he was cheating. In fact, sometimes he pretended to loose, but he remained supreme in this town and there was no reason for that.   
    A small part of him was disagreeable to his present accommodations. He yelled at that ungrateful part of himself and ignored the kinds of feelings it brought upon him. What would be the use of moping around all the time because his life wasn't perfect? He got around, had money, girls… all the pleasures of the flesh one could want. He knew there was more than that but he wasn't in a huge rush to find out. He was only about a hundred years old.   
    He had, as of late, realized something unsettling, and annoyingly he was just in the middle of his forth drink too. He had been looking behind his opponent when he saw a beautiful woman. This was not uncommon. This woman had a magickal aura - both uncommon and dangerous. She stared right back at him and they both knew that each knew the other was a magickal being.   
    Right then she was coming over to his table with a knowing smirk and all he could do was hope she wouldn't reveal him.   
    "Well, aren't you good at this?" she mocked with a smile. The rest of the watching table took this as an encouraging flirtation. _Ahh! I must go along…!_   
    He put his elbow on the table, or tried to bet missed it terribly. His arms slid off the table and his head smacked into where his elbow should have been. Given, it was hard to follow that up with a believably suave line, but he was a good actor so he tried. "I'm good at _everything_," he slurred suggestively. The rest of the drunken table laughed and goaded him on.   
    Two of the spectators cleared a path for the approaching woman. She leaned on her elbows on the table and fluttered her eyelashes. She had intelligent blue eyes and smoothed down black hair that cropped her face most becomingly. Because of her leaning position on the table, the vest she was wearing showed quite a bit of cleavage. Some of the more lecherous of the table tried to grope her. No one knew what she did to the men (and some women??) but they never touched her and every now and again someone would yelp. Out of good faith she did accept the drinks that men bought her and had had quite a few before she began to speak with Duo once more.   
    She had worked her way slightly around the round table and now she faced the back of the drinking master as he faced his opponent. She took his braid in one hand, "Nice hair," she said with a purr in his ear.   
    Despite himself he did straighten and look behind his back. "Please lay off the hair." His voice had lost some of its slurred edge.   
    "Touche. Do you charge or something?" Instead of letting go she played with the end and waved it around.   
    Duo tried not to get angry at the person fondling his braid, he'd dealt with it before - usually by beating the crap out of the said person - but perhaps, he considered, she was actually drunk. There were magickal creatures that liquor took affect on. Humans, for one, and those goat people… hm, he'd have to think about that one. There were also those pesky northern mages of old and nymphs, he'd seen them get drunk as well though it took a lot. So he might be able to forgive her. He took his braid back and pulled it out of her reach under his protection.   
    Inwardly Hilde rolled her eyes at his stupidity. He was forcing her to sink _really_ low, and she did not appreciate it. So when she lost hold of the braid she sighed and allowed her hands to make a trail down the other's back, over the folds of his black tank top to rest caressingly at his waist.   
    Duo felt himself shiver a little and stopped his nightly charade to look at the girl groping him. "Yes?" he tried to ask calmly.   
    Hilde leaned in so that there was no room for two fingers between them. She whispered seductively in his ear (for the purposes of not letting on what was going on; these flirtations were quite common around the drinking table) "When you're done cheating these people -" Duo winced, "-maybe we can go somewhere personal." She then blew a little in his ear.   
    Now Duo was a little confused. She seemed to want two things from him. Besides the obvious, by her words she had also indicated that she wanted to talk to him about his magickal aura.   
    Among other things.   
    Now he had to make the decision as to whether or not he was willing to risk a talk with the vixen. However, his body was already collecting his money for the night and declaring he was going to go to "bed" now. He followed through with ease and looked perfectly natural as his slipped a "drunken" arm around the vixen's waist. She did likewise and whispered something unintelligible as they started walking out. They both ignored the catcalls, and the shouts of both male and female, "Sweety, you could do much better than him," and "If you wanted a good time, why didn't you say so Duo?"   
    They kept the act on with guarded senses the whole was to Duo's room at a nearby inn. Hilde had gained some respect for him as well; on the way there he hadn't tried anything demeaning. They stayed within the boundaries of pretending to be flirtatious drunk strangers heading towards a one-night stand.   
    The shops were all closed at this time at night. The moon caste a nightly blue on the sky and buildings around them as they walked down the dry dirt road. It hadn't rained so they didn't worry about mud as much as was usual in the town of Limberly. There was only one cobblestone road in the whole town, and that was the main one. They were traveling among the narrower streets but not into any back alleys. None of the shutters were open and the particular street they were on had no nightly :ahem: services offering. Squeals were heard in the wind amid the echoes of animals' howling and the customary noises of the tavern they had left.   
    They disengaged themselves when they went through the door of the inn and stumbled inward. Duo gave an intoxicated wave to the receptionist and pulled Hilde (who was now also pretending, mostly pretending, to be drunk) towards the stairs to his room. He had a very nice, large room on the second floor, as he indicated when he slumped against the door to fumble for his key.   
    Hilde closed the space between them and said into his neck, "You don't have to fake being drunk around me anymore." Duo's eyes narrowed, unbeknownst to her, and suddenly the door was open.   
    They staggered inside and Duo closed the door with his foot. In the blink of an eye, both were sober. (Well, Duo more so… but sober enough.) The room was dark, however Duo could see well enough in the dark to avoid the couch, table, seats, steps and various items askew on the floor. He grabbed Hilde's hand and led her into the bedroom quickly. Once inside he pushed her onto the bed and hurried to light a candle.   
    He picked up the waxy demon and tried to snap some fire onto the wick. Too bad for Duo, fire magick was _not_ his specialty, he had a hard time just getting a little spark out of his snapping fingers and hunched his shoulders over the object at hand. With a glare and a long string of curses he finally had a lit candle. At some point he had caught himself ready to throw it against the wall but Hilde had cleared her throat annoyingly and so he went over to the candelabra on the wall and lit the three adjacent candles in their waxed over bronze holders. On the other side of the bed there were three more candles and the curved mirrors on the walls gave them dim but sufficient lighting.   
    "So," he let out conversationally as he pounced onto the bed and landed facing his guest with folded legs after a few bounces. He leaned on one hand and looked casually at her, "You wanted to talk to me?"   
    Hilde was done taking in her surroundings and responded, "Yes." She smiled quirkily at him. "You're obviously cheating those people out of their money," she pointed to the money stuffed in his pockets. "So what are you, an elf?"   
    _Hm, drawn the same conclusions, huh?_ Duo wasn't ashamed of taking the people's money, but she seemed to be implying an insult towards his race. So he retaliated, "Why yes, and I see you can't hold your liquor, so what are you, a mage?"   
    Hilde's eyes narrowed with her smile, "It would have been funny had you been right." As she spoke Duo mocked her with his hand in a hand puppet way. This should have insulted her, but in her slight haze she laughed.   
    Duo got along with anyone that had a good sense of humor, unless that person was either trying to kill him or steal from him, in which case, it was still funny, but unforgivable. He let their little quarrel go and got serious. "Are you trying to warn me to stop or something?"   
    One of Hilde's eyebrows went up. "No, although I should considering I'm an undercover agent of justice etc." Duo's eyebrow went up. "Actually I'm here as a recruiter."   
    The look she received was obviously one of doubt, "What, pre tell, are you recruiting for, and how much does it pay?"   
    Hilde huffed, "Is everything about money for you, I thought you were an elf."   
    "I see, it doesn't pay… Nope, I'm not interested. Elf though I may be, I am a financially concerned elf. ^.^" one of his fingers had gone into the air.   
    "Yes, and I'm a monk of Di-shan-di* as well as a wanton sex goddess," Hilde mocked sarcastically; her finger went up. Then she muttered to herself, "Well, that's ironic… I actually kinda am…" but Duo was not paying attention, he had had a chuckle and was now considering his options.   
    "Okay, so what's with all this secrecy? What are you entailing me to do? A heist?" That was what he expected, which was why he had dragged her into the back room where they could not be heard.   
    "As a soldier."   
    Duo promptly fell over and off the bed. When he peered at her over the edge of the covers he muffled his laugh into the matting. "Do you know who I am? I'm not a soldier; I'm a thief." He burst out laughing again.   
    Hilde was not amused. "Yea, well, fortune's a fickle bitch. It's not my fault."   
    Duo laughed some more at the comment. "Fortune huh?"   
    "Apparently, I'm destined, and you're destined and we're all destined. I'm destined to find you, and you're destined to pilot a dragon." Hilde had crossed her arms and tapped her foot.   
    Duo choked on his laugh. "D-dragon?" Hilde nodded, "As in, from the War of All Dragon?"   
    "So you've heard of them."   
    Duo blinked a couple of times, "Yea, of course. They were the main reason that humans won the war." He tried to remember his history, "They haven't appeared in hundreds of years. We always assumed they had been destroyed."   
  


_________________________________________________________________   
* the monks of Di-shan-di are known for living peaceful and quiet lives of reflection, meditation, and celibacy. Thusly - sarcasm.   
___________________________________________________________________

  
  
    "Wrong again." Hilde stood up and paced, "They've been protected all this time. They were hidden from humans themselves under the Sanc Kingdom until the falling about fifteen or so years ago. Instead of letting the Northern Kingdom have them they were moved into the allied regions to the south (the middle states) and possibly from there - west." She continued, "It was part of a prophecy left behind by "good" mages that they would rise again to make it safe once more for all to walk Aldaraania. By the mages not connected with the eastern government, who could see what would happen, the War of All was considered the great separation. Mages lost power from then on to the point of persecution, magickal creatures are outlawed in most human lands in Aldaraania and the prophecy says that the dragons will fix all that. There are hints that the Sanc Kingdom will also be restored," Hilde's eyes revealed a light of excitement.   
    "How do you know all this?" Duo asked in awe.   
    Hilde spun with vigor and applied her attention to her audience. "I was the original carrier of the document. I was there when the dragons were moved, I was there when the fall happened, and my commander gave me the prophecy to run with. I was commanded to go south with it, and did, buuuut… not before making myself a copy." She gave a victory sign.   
    Duo gave a weak smile but many thoughts were running through his head now. Most of them were honest. _Unfortunately,_ thought he. "Why does this concern me?"   
    "You're one of the prophesied pilots of the Dragons." She appeared to call upon her memory, "You're… the… the 'Elf Without a Clan'." She didn't notice Duo's painfully sharp intake of breath. I've been watching you only for a little while. It's very rare, in all these fifteen years, that I have seen a wandering magickal being. I follow each of them for a time and most turn out to be undiscovered mages, ignorant even to themselves. But you," she chuckled in such a way that made Duo wince, "stuck out like a blister on the butt of the magick society. The fact that you couldn't get drunk really gave you away because I wasn't just looking for _any_ elf; I was looking for an elf that wasn't like any other elf heard of. An elf without a clan. I think stealing, cheating, drinking and lying qualify as-"   
    "I DON"T lie. I admit to all else but that. I've never said to anything but an elf. I only keep up my mask for self-protection. As you yourself claimed, magickal creatures and the northeast don't get along." He stood up so that now he was equal with Hilde.   
    "Whatever, what's important is that you agree to come with me to help find a dragon so you can pilot it."   
    "Thank you no." He said quickly. "There's no proof any of this is true. This could be some trick for all I know. How much do Elvin slaves go for in the north?"   
    Hilde growled, but he had a point. "Look, I know even this is a bit risky, but something's supposed to happen when one of the seekers meets one of the pilots. It hasn't happened to us yet… but I think that that might be because we are both still masking ourselves magickally. If we both drop our masks it might happen."   
    "That's a lot of mights and ifs."   
    Hilde became beyond frustrated, she grabbed Duo's arm pleadingly, "Can't you trust me a little?"   
    There was a long pause. "Are you propositioning me?"   
    Duo received a loud, hard smack on the arm. "No!"   
    "I'm sorry!" he said in between laughs, "You should have seen your face though, hahaha." Another smack followed and Duo quieted. "Fine then. I'll trust you that far. But only because you had the gall to smack me." He smiled warmly. "On your word."   
    Hilde nodded, "Now." Duo went from a sexy dirty bond with bright blue eyes and one loop earring to the chestnut headed, violet eyed, pointy eared, ears-still-intact, even SEXIER Duo that we all know and love. Hilde's black choppy hair became what seemed in the dim light a few shades lighter but was actually dark blue with a hint of purple. The style was shorter and she had sproutsof bangs. Her eye color didn't change but her eyes slanted more and her two sharp teeth, though not visible, in likeness to Duo's, became sharper and more pointed.   
    Blue eyes met violet and all of a sudden violet eyes met ceiling. "Ow," Duo commented. His head was throbbing painfully and he could have sworn he'd seen a white flash. Perhaps it was his life flashing before his eyes. Funny, he didn't remember any of it.   
    "Ah, a nymph," Duo said. He achingly made his way into a sitting position on the floor. He didn't have to wonder too much what had happen. Fate had a funny way of stamping people in the head with what they were supposed to do, and it was called pain. Perhaps it was a magickal reflex to their connected destinies but chances are it was one of the fates evil little spells. _They're probably having a good laugh every time this happens._ Duo thought. The pain was quickly subsiding and he could see that Hilde was also over it.   
    After rubbing his temple shortly he was feeling much more comfortable without needing to keep up a magickal mask. It was as if he was relaxing a muscle after having it tense for a very long time. "I could have had a fun time guessing," he commented about Hilde's race.   
    Hilde just smiled. He was impossibly _more_ handsome as an elf. She hadn't admitted it to herself before, but the man really was strikingly attractive. Her mind caught up with her body as she was perusing his face when something occurred to her. She looked at his face more carefully and dug through her amazingly receptive memory to fifteen years ago.   
    "You're looking at me funny…" Duo tried to hint to her.   
    She continued to stare into his violet eyes, really intelligent and deeply scarred eyes. She would remember those eyes had she seen them before. She had to have seen them though. By his looks he could be no younger than seventy.   
    "Could you stop?" Duo asked.   
    Hilde's eyes narrowed as she came to her conclusion. She grabbed Duo's arm, "I've never seen you before."   
    "Wow, I couldn't have told you _that_," Duo said dryly.   
    Her grip became tight around his lean muscles so that it would have been painful… had Duo not had those lean muscles. "I worked protecting the Sank Kingdom for two years before the falling. I greeted every new guard, I knew everyone and I especially knew all the male elves, and if I didn't it was because they were dead. I saw the clans of guard during the falling arrive and lived with them in close quarters for a month while we fought." Duo had become paler. "You were not among any of these. I know for a fact that the clans sent the able bodied men to defend the Sank Kingdom. You are able bodied. Why weren't you there?" The heat of her anger and the force of the conviction in her voice had started to build up and Duo took a step back as a result.   
    She dragged him forward, "We needed everyone, where were you?! Why weren't you there?!" She had lost her cool and there were tears in her eyes. "Even if you weren't with a clan, why didn't you help?!"   
    Duo's eyes shifted from left to right. He was taken aback, but by no means beaten. His nervousness fled from him and all accusations bounced off him from where they had clung. "You talk as if I, one elf, had been able to win the war and that the loss was all blamed on me."   
    Hilde knew that Duo at least believed this was the truth, so he didn't lie. "But why weren't you there for those like you? Why weren't you there for your people!?"   
    Immediately Hilde was shrugged off. "DON'T talk about my people. You know nothing of my people. My people don't give a shit about me. Leave the subject alone." His sudden outburst and change in expression had scared her slightly and she remained still. They stared each other down but Duo won out.   
    "Fine," conceded Hilde. "But now you realize you must do the right thing. You owe it to all the magickal beings that died while you-" she faltered and said the first thing that came to mind with disgust, "-embezzled. That is, unless of course you were glad that the Northern Kingdom won and killed thousands of allies of our kind." She dared Duo to oppose her and put her hands on her hips.   
  


________________________________________________________   
*I have the picture in my mind of Duo saying, "yare yare,"   
but it doesn't make sense that he would know Eastern language.   
_____________________________________________________________

  
  
    Duo took one look at Hilde and sighed, "Oh boy*. Well, I will help you." He became stern, "I do have morals and no, I didn't jump for joy at the victory of the Northern Kingdom. In fact, I hate the Northern Kingdom," something flared in his dark mysterious eyes. "You could say my main motivation for doing this is to kick some NK ass. That, and you asked oh so very politely." He gave her a winning grin.   
    Hilde managed a smile… now they both just sat there, not knowing what to do. They both paused. "Well, you had better get packing then. We're going to be on the road constantly while searching for the Dragon. I need to gather my things as well. I will meet you in the common room of this inn in an hour. See you then."   
    Duo waved. He had the urge to fall down in exhaustion and sift through all his sad horrible memories but beat it down with a very large stick. He wouldn't and couldn't sit there and mope. Life was too short! He only had, what, a thousand or so more years to spread his magnificence! Besides, in about an hour a beautiful, tipsy, lady Nymph was going to meet him in the lobby and they were going to be living with each other for the next… oh, who knows, how long to Nymphs live again?!   
  
  
**Review me and tell me if Hilde is OOC**, I tried ever so hard to make her not so. (Review me in general)   
**Also, are the footnotes annoying?**


	12. The Truth Behind the Mage.

  
Look!!!! I love this fic so much I spent an hour making a map for you! Please take the time to look at it, I know the places get confusing at times and so I hope this is helpful.  
  


****=Dwarven Lands  
$$$$=Zodiac Kingdom   
~~~~=Water  
____=Lands unspecified (not just the Mid-states)  
This should be allright for the basics. ^.^ Enjoy.  
  
  
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Northern Kingdom^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
**********_________@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
***********____@@@@@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************__@@Sanc Kingdom@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************____@ _o-f _ o-l-d_ @^^^^^^^$$$$$$$$$$  
**************________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****************________Quatrica___________$$$$$$$$$$  
*********_________________________Doomak $$$$$$$$$$  
******________________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****________________Mid-states___________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
***________________________________________$$$$$$$$  
**&________________________________________ $$$$$$$  
*&&&&&______________________________________$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&_________________________________ $$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&&&&&--------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&----------------South Republic---------------  
&&Nymph Woods&&---------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&------------------------------------------  


  
  
  
    I'm sorry this took so long, but I shortened the length of the chapters in my other fic so I should turn out more often. I think my chapters in this fic are getting smaller as well. Nope… after writing it… no.   
  
    Chapter 12: The truth behind the Mage.   
  
    Claudine hummed to herself as she watched her knee and toe disappear and reappear in the lightly scented bath water. At most the bath could hold about two people, and the hot water had to be heated by large hot stones. The greatest comfort was that it was deep enough for her to touch her toes to the bottom and keep her head just above the water if she desired. The steam kept the atmosphere warm as well. The flower-like incense only served to help her mood. She loved living with rich people; it was great. No, she wasn't shallow, but seriously, it was very nice to bathe in one of the only heated baths in the desert country of Quatrica.   
    In general, living with the Winner family was great. She had a very nice room, and service whenever she wanted, and a family once again. It wasn't her family exactly, but it was of that sort. Each one of Quatre's sisters's treated her like a sister of their own. Quatre and her were closer than ever. He incorporated her into the family just as his sisters did. _There is one difference,_ she reconsidered, _Quatre treats me like a sister. Quatre's sisters treat me like a sister. However, Quatre's sisters don't treat me like Quatre's sister!_ Their favorite past time was to try and match make between Claudine and Quatre (even if Claudine and Quatre didn't want to be match made). Salasa was the worst of them all. She planned most of the attacks and had gained the support of Maisa and Rasha. It took a lot of self-control for Claudine to NOT attack Salasa in some way (even if she was joking). Maisa and Rasha had taken in Jasmine with the prospects of playing tricks. And Jasmine, the sneaky crazy one, was a force to be reckoned with.   
    Claudine sighed, drew a deep breath, and plunged her head under the water.   
  
    "But Sandra! You know how tired he is after he comes back from practice, and I went through all the trouble of heating the bathing pool for him," Jasmine explained quickly as they walked down the hall. "I simply must leave right now, and if someone doesn't tell him the bath will get cold. Lovac is loading my things and the other servants are preparing dinner-"   
    "So early?" Sandra asked innocently. She didn't know Jasmine was lying, and she tried to keep her suspicions to the minimum. Although, being pretty smart as she was, she couldn't help but doubt her sister a little.   
    "Yes, yes, I think Iria is coming," Jasmine waved a hand dismissively. "The thing is, oh look, I must go!" breath was sucked in through her teeth to give a rushing affect. Sandra was a bit taken by her sister's hurried manner. "Just tell him you prepared a bath for him, goodbye!" With a quick kiss for her sister Jasmine was out the door.   
  
    Having satisfied herself with the hot water running through her hair and playing across her face, Claudine pushed off the bottom and broke the surface with a great heaving breath. At first she could see nothing because her hair, long and thick, clouded her vision.   
    At first Quatre could see nothing, once his eyes adjusted to the soft lighting and steam he still did not notice Claudine's things on the bench and prepared on the other side. He was about to take off his towel when he heard a splash and a large gulp of air. He stood there in shock as he realized there was a person. Then he realized just exactly _who_ was in the bath.   
    "Claudine?" He asked in a confused way, not yet comprehending the situation as a whole.   
    "Qua- QUATRE?! Oh By Nata!* Get out PERVERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"   
    That sound would ring in his ears the rest of the night. The long, drawn out sound trebling with and ending of "rt".   
  


_______________________________________________________________________   
  
*Like the expression- Oh My God!   
_______________________________________________________________________

  
  
    The tricks had ended there, but the matchmaking did not. Besides that, there were a lot of apologies to be given out:   
    "I'm sorry for playing that trick on you, but I was only trying to help!"   
    "I had no idea! I'm so sorry! I really thought the bath was for Quatre."   
    "… I'm very :blush: sorry :blush harder: for walking in on you…. Sorry."   
    "Well… you didn't mean to… :looks at feet: I'm sorry for calling you a pervert."   
    "Oh look what a cute couple they make!" Instantly Claudine took a lunge at Salasa and had to be held back by Quatre.   
    "Look! He's _holding_ her!" Salasa clapped her hands together and put them up by her cheek. "How sweet!" she squealed. She didn't mean to be provoking; she was being sincere, honest and liked Claudine so much so that she thought that the girl not only deserved her brother and a place in her family, but happiness as well.   
    "DIE!"   
    Ummm… yes, happiness…   
  
    Two nights later…   
    "Concentrate harder!"   
    "You don't need to hit me…"   
    "You OWE me this, remember? You walked in on me."   
    Quatre blushed, "But I thought you forgave me- and I didn't get to see anything or anything!" :smack: "Ow! That was my face!!"   
    "Oh," Claudine faltered, "Sorry, I thought it was your arm… Um… it sure is dark in here, isn't it? He he… he…"   
    "What do you expect, it's my sister's closet. Usually people don't reside in here."   
    "Yea, whatever, be quiet and concentrate! It's a hard spell."   
    "Are you sure you're supposed to use your magick like this?" Quatre shuffled, "Isn't that abuse? Just using it to play tricks?"   
    "You won't be saying that tomorrow morning, mage."   
    "Hey-"   
    "You're acting like a mage, with all your petty morals… etc." she joked.   
    "Ha ha."   
    "It's not a big deal." She snickered, "they're just going to wake up and think that they have no hair," she smiled sadistically, "Anywhere."   
    Quatre choked on air, "Claudine?!"   
    "Okay, so that last is not true…. Now frickin' concentrate!"   
    The next morning there were some very unhappy twin sisters when they looked into the mirror.   
    Rasha and Maisa: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They each screamed from their respective rooms. The two girls' wavy blonde hair was completely shaved off when they looked in the mirror. Somehow, this wasn't as funny to them as it was to the two hysterical teens in the hallway. They slapped each other's hands and leaned on each other to laugh some more.   
    Jasmine, in her own room down the long hall, had woken at the screams and sleepily prepared to leave her room. She glanced in her mirror and saw that she had no hair. At first she was surprised- she tilted her head from side to side to see what she could do with it and how it looked. She liked the bald look if she could get a few more piercings and tattoo her head. She ran her hand over her bald head only to discover that she actually still had her black hair back in its bun. This confused her sleepy mind. She had no hair in the mirror… and yet she had hair… She shrugged it off. So the mirror was cursed, "Cool," was all she said as she shuffled off to choose clothes.   
  
    Maisa… you still have you're hair. It was just the mirror; now, please put down that poker…" Quatre addressed his sister calmly. After she had screamed in terror at her reflection she had deduced that she actually still had hair and followed the sound of laughter to the culprits. Rasha and Maisa had started stalking them down the hallway with makeshift weapons. Maisa had a poker and Rasha was swiping at Claudine with a brush.   
    "That was low," Rasha complained.   
    Quatre and Claudine just stared at her as if to simply put it, -Bath-Incident-   
    "Oh fine," the both conceded. The group made up after that and considered all debts and revenges paid in full. Only one thing remained unresolved between them all, and that was how exactly Claudine and Quatre had managed to do that to the mirrors.   
    Quatre threw a panicked look in Claudine's direction. She shrugged. Whether or not one could call it 'fortunately', a servant sent from Quatre's father beckoned that Quatre meet with him in his room. Quatre sweatdropped nervously and backed away from his company of sisters. This time Claudine did give him a mildly concerned look before he descended the steps out of sight. Besides, she couldn't worry about him, now she had to think up some lie about how they had done the mirror trick.   
  
    Quatre gulped at the foreboding that he felt. Lovac allowed him into his father's study and closed the large elaborate doors behind them upon entering. His father, for once, was not in his business chair when he came in, but sat thoughtfully in his cushioned chair across from the matching red velvet, overhanging seat. "Please take a seat Quatre."   
    Quatre shifted his eyes nervously and did as he was told. He father sounded different than usual. He sounded defeated… and old beyond his years. After sitting in silence Quatre couldn't help but ask, "This is about the mirror, isn't it?" His father nodded sagely. "Who told you?"   
    Mr. Winner took a deep breath, "Jasmine," when he saw his son's eyes harden at the treachery he continued, "Don't be angry at her Quatre. She didn't do this. She was actually inquiring about the means of this trick and was concerned for your safety."   
    "My safety?"   
    "Yes; she was worried about you getting mixed up in magick," Quatre's eyes visibly widened. "As much as she likes Claudine, she was concerned that Claudine might be sucking you into magick usage on the basic level." Quatre exhaled, _at least he hasn't figured it out._ "Quatre," for the first time that meeting Mr. Winner looked directly into Quatre's eyes. At the address Quatre looked back. "Magick is not accepted in this era. If you get mixed up in it I am fretful something might happen to you. That is why I _must_ know: is Claudine a magick user? A mage?"   
    Quatre did not answer. He considered his options. If he knew anything, it was that he would not betray his friend. "What would that have to do with me?" he asked instead.   
    "Answer the question."   
    "No."   
    "Then I have my answer… she is." He considered his son's defiance carefully. "What has she taught you?"   
    "Everything I know," Quatre defied once again. His father's frustration began to build. "Now answer my question: why does it matter to you?"   
    "Because-" he started, then stopped himself. The Winner men glared at each other.   
    Quatre's patience was the first to break. He threw all caution to the wind for the light of his father's knowledge. Quatre had waited a long time to ask his father about his mother and he could wait no longer. Obviously his father was holding back the knowledge that he was a mage from him; the problem was that he already knew, but why was this a danger to him? Why was his father so reluctant? It drove Quatre mad not to know any answers. "Mother was a mage. Why didn't you ever tell me?"   
    Mr. Winner started. His heart twisted as memories of his second wife flooded back to him, but most importantly, he looked at Quatre with a stern jaw. "Is this what Claudine has taught you?"   
    "This is what I have discovered," Quatre lost his calm, "I shouldn't have needed to discover it. Why did you never tell me? Why didn't you ever tell me I was a mage!?"   
    Quatre's father was torn between surprise, fear and anger, "So you have been studying under her! Lovac, go, I want that girl out of my house now!" Mr. Winner had stood and energetically pointed to the door. Lovac hurried to leave loyally.   
    The anger hidden behind Quatre's innocence was released at this sudden betrayal. "NO!" He stood and pressed his palms together, then he thrust them outward and a strong, harsh wind blew from around him. The doors that Lovac had partially opened were slammed shut and Lovac was sent careening to the ground from the force of both the wind and his grip on the fast moving doors. Quatre swept past his father just enough to turn on him and use an unseen force to sit his towering father down. "Stay down, Lovac," Quatre warned without facing the servant. "You," he turned his burning eyes on his father, "Why were my abilities never revealed to me? What are you so scared of?"   
    Despite the fear of seeing his son use powerful magick Mr. Winner stared at his son unwaveringly. "You cannot bully me into an answer with violence."   
    Quatre stopped his pacing that he had begun after his father sat. He was not used to using his powers to this extent, everything had gone so far that he felt as if he had dug himself a hole that he couldn't get out of and lost all control over his actions. The words of his father brought reason back to him. He was being violent towards people he had loved his whole life. In that half a minute, he had left behind everything that had ever been taught to him by his family for a new and powerful path that should by all means get him what he wanted and yet, he felt strangely emptied by the attempt. Not only that, but his new way of doing things still did not work on his father. His brow furrowed as he tried to decide what to do.   
    With a sudden compassion he crouched down to look at his father levelly and pleaded, "Why? I just want to know why." He shook his head and fell back from exhaustion he hadn't known he'd felt. Enduring the exertion his powers was still not a strength he had.   
    Father looked at defeated son. His son had defeated himself. It was already too late. "I have never told you, because you were better off not knowing. Soon you will have to face the world alone with the path you have chosen. I can't always be with you anymore," He smiled and placed a hand on his son's head, who looked up. "As long as you could remain ignorant I could keep you safe, but now that you choose to no longer remain ignorant and in my care, as you did the day you left for the south, you will have the knowledge you need to protect yourself in this world.   
    "I found you're mother while living farther east, in Doomak. My first wife had died and in order to keep myself busy I traveled east to campaign against the reign of the Zodiac Kingdom. It was not an easy job and so I moved over there for a time. Because of my position on the Zodiac Kingdom I made many friends and enemies. One of those friends was your mother. Considering she was a mage it was not surprising she was anti-Zodiac. In fact, she was allied with the Southern republic with the rebellion." Quatre stilled at the realization that his mother paralleled Claudine in that way. "We fell in love and married. When I proposed we move back to Quatrica she explained everything to me, and the reason she could not leave.   
    "She was a mage, a great and just mage who was as much against killing and war as I was. She could not leave because she had just been asked by the Southern Republic to guard something called a dragon for them." Quatre's heart sped up. _That's what was in the cavern! A dragon, the same dragon?_ he listened with attentiveness. "It had been moved there right after the fall of the Sanc Kingdom. She did because she felt that as long as she was guarding the dragon it could not be used for war, out of her loyalty to the Sanc Kingdom and the remembrance of their ideals." Quatre's eyebrows furrowed, _She had the same ideals as my father… but then where am I getting _my_ ideals from?!_   
    "Back then the Republic was not so eager for war and the Zodiac hadn't carried out their expansion into the west far enough to spark a strong rebellion. That was why she felt that it would be safe to ask the Republic to take it into their lands for protection so she could live with me in Quatrica… and have her first and only baby there. You were that baby." Quatre saddened as he thought about his father's words. Something must have gone terribly wrong. He also understood that it couldn't have been the dragon he saw in Quatrica… unless somehow it had been moved there instead.   
    "The Republic agreed, but it was years before they would actually have a sufficient plan to remove the dragon. Your mother helped them do it too, but unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, there had been a leak about the presence of the dragon and it's removal. During the moving there was an attack by a small group of Zodiac spies. Your mother bravely held them off until the dragon was gone, then her and I narrowly escaped back to Quatrica with you.   
    "We lived in together in peace for two years before our exploits in Doomak caught up with us. In those two years Doomak had been taken as a loyal ally of the Zodiac Kingdom- even if they _weren't_ a loyal ally of the Zodiac Kingdom. In order to regain the dragon that had once been there, more desperate measures were to be taken. The Zodiac Kingdom didn't know where the dragon was hidden, and they never would, but they did have witnesses to the night when it was taken out of Doomak. These witnesses told them of a mage that had fled west with a man… and they gave her description." Briefly Quatre wondered how his father knew all this, "Agents of the Zodiac came for her in the night, and with a furious battle she was able to hold them off. She even captured one and found out how this had all come to be. By then I had arrived and I saw as a magickal creature, to this day unknown to me but doubtless from the Northern Kingdom, kidnapped your mother and took her away. He was much too powerful for either of us," regret was audible in Mr. Winner's voice.   
    "According to one of my contacts, she was brought to the capital of the Zodiac Kingdom, obviously tortured for information, and then, presumably when they could get none from her, she was killed as a public spectacle, and propaganda against mages. The day was celebrated and more than a thousand attended her execution."   
    Quatre stared as his time worn father in shock. The ending of the story had hit him right in the depth of his heart. His mother was tortured and beaten for doing the right thing, and then she was executed in front of a cheering crowd for only being what she couldn't help.   
    She was executed brutally for being a mage.   
    … And the people _liked_ it.   
    They _cheered_ for it.   
    They _celebrated_ her death.   
    Quatre couldn't seem to move his tensed muscles. He stared past his father blankly to the point where Mr. Winner became worried. Unknowingly Mr. Winner's eyes had overflowed with tears during his story. Seeing that Quatre's had brimmed he slid off his chair onto his knees and embraced his paralyzed son. The jerk of being hugged tightly had caused the tears to fall from Quatre's eyes, but there was no reaction from the boy.   
    Quatre hadn't known people could be so… disgusting. His mother was robbed from him at the age of four. He'd spent a whole year of his life missing everything a mother has to give: missing her comfort when he was hurt, missing her loving touch, her voice, her song, her light, her pruning and cooing. He had missed any and all LOVE from a female mother figure in his life for two years at least. He remembered how it felt to be unseen by those around him and unloved by all except his father. His father, who spent all his time at work after his mother's death and became completely engulfed with his business and politics, he hadn't had a parent for such a long time at such a crucial point in his life… and they _cheered_ for it?   
    Iria hadn't been enough. She was his sister; she had a life. She had come as close as one could get to being a parent at the age of ten, but mostly all she did was play with him. He had been so _alone_ for those years in his life. He had no mother, most of his sisters pretended he didn't exist because he had not been with him the first two years of his life -he had been in Doomak- and therefore seemed like an intrusion into their lives. He had had no friends because no one wanted to play with the Winner boy unless he was going to give them money somehow. They were all too jealous. Last of all, his father had isolated himself from his own four-year-old son and absorbed himself in work to forget the morbid death of his second wife.   
    Mr. Winner felt Quatre stiffen in his arms and realized the man had finally snapped out of it. Before moving four words slipped lifelessly from Quatre's lips, "What's my mother's name?"   
    Mr. Winner blinked, "It- it was Lilith."   
    With that he was done absorbing information. He had never even known his mother's name! It was never spoken to him! Never!!   
    Quatre forced himself to smother his anger he was showing with his ferocious facial expression. He kept his head down so that his bangs blocked the view of his face. Had his father seen his face, he would not have dared to say what he would next say.   
    "So now you understand why I didn't tell you."   
     _No, I don't._ Quatre narrowed his eyes secretly.   
    "Now you understand why it scares me too much for you to be learning magick from that girl."   
    _Her name's Claudine,_ He thought with restrained fury.   
    "I can't have you die; this must stop. The girl has got to go."   
    Quatre found that he was clenching his hands so hard that they had begun to shake. "She will," he replied with bitter humor. He got up as fast as lightning and stalked towards the door.   
    "Quatre!" his father yelled puzzledly.   
    "I'll go GET her." Quatre replied in a low and dangerous voice. He opened the heavy doors with quick ease and slammed them behind him. As he walked away with his hands clenched he muttered a spell that would keep the door closed. Not long after he did hear his father banging on it until he was out of range.   
    Although he felt like he was walking with slow calm he was actually storming briskly towards where he last saw Claudine with an aura of rage.   
    Something happened to him on the way there. It could have been a waved of exhaustion or maybe the influence of his heritage of mild managed peace lovers but suddenly Quatre stopped. He could walk no farther. No longer did the anger raging against the world fuel his body. Suddenly he felt weak, hopeless, empty and utterly, utterly alone. He stumbled a bit to the side and fell against the stone wall. Before moving another inch forward he buried his face in the arm leaned against the wall and cried until he had no tears or energy to cry anymore.   
    Without all that anger and hateful energy pent up inside of him he felt that he was ready to continue in his task of finding Claudine. After he had taken the time to vent he had lost his time to get them both out of the estate before his father stopped him. Now he had to run down the corridor to reach Claudine. He saw that she was no longer speaking to his sisters and went to check her room.   
    Claudine was, needless to say, startled when Quatre burst through her room and stumbled to a halt onto her bed. "Um…" she began comically, but then she realized that Quatre's aura seemed all wrong, it was too weak and fluctuated like someone who had been through a great emotional deal. "Quatre, what's wrong?" she asked as she kneeled next to him.   
    After a pause Quatre felt ready to face her. With an exhalation he leaned back and looked into her caring eyes. "We've got to go."   
    Claudine looked at him confused, "Go where?"   
    "I mean that we have got to leave this house, quickly." Quatre stood and looked around her room. There were some foils resting against her wall. He went over to them and picked them up, then belted one of them for his use.   
    "Why? Hey, what are you-" She stood and started towards him.   
    "I said _quickly_." The glare he cast at her made her stop in her place.   
    No, but Claudine was not to be trifled with, "Answer the damn question or I don't move."   
    Quatre had forgotten himself. To his surprise he realized that for a flicker of a moment he considered forcing her out using magick. Two things stopped him. One, he would get his ass kicked, and two, how could he even think of doing that to Claudine? He deflated and tried to subdue his angry face. "I'm sorry." With that out he could continue, "My father has discovered that you have been teaching me magick and…" he lied, "has ordered _us_ to leave the house."   
    "WHAT?"   
    "Please, we don't have time for this, we have to leave before they…" he lied again, "come after us."   
    "What is it you're not telling me?" Claudine placed her hands on her hips.   
    Mentally Quatre smacked his forehead; _should've known I can't lie to an elf. I can't even lie properly to humans let alone elves._ "We'll discuss this later," he threw the half-elf girl her bag that he picked up from under her bed.   
    She caught it with ease but continued to protest with less vigor and more compliance. "But… why? No."   
    Quatre grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. A vast feeling of peace flowed through him. This was reflected in his features, which softened greatly and shown his deep sadness. "Please?" he squeezed her hand for emphasis.   
    One could say Claudine melted into a pile of mush, but she would argue that she just wasn't thinking at the moment. (It was basically the same thing.) She nodded and followed him out the door.   
    Feeling like a spy within his own house was disconcerting to Quatre as he hurried from pillar to pillar and crouched his way down the steps with Claudine still in tow. It didn't occur to him that that would be the last time he would set foot in that house at the moment and so his last seconds before he closed the door behind them were wasted by looking forward toward the open fields.   
    Claudine's warm hand was the only thing that kept him thinking straight. He was sure that without her there he probably would have wandered off to go waste away in the woods or something but with he strong soft hand in his he could think for someone else's well being besides his own. If he had not had Claudine to think of he would not have been able to leave his prison. Because that's what it was, a prison. The truth was kept from him his whole life; he was trapped there in his loneliness and ignorance for his own safety for years. He had been lied to and kept down and neglected, and even with all the money in the world it would not have been enough. As they ran away towards the town where they would eventually settle at Claudine's small apartment Quatre couldn't help thinking, _How funny… the truth hurts me more than anything I've ever felt, and yet I crave it more than ignorance by far. Yes, funny… ignorance kept me happy and the truth makes me miserable… humans are so funny that way. They crave what makes them miserable. Yet, I must know more. I will. I swear it. Never again will I be blinded by happiness, never again will I trust. If misery brings me truth, I prefer my misery._   
  
  
  
I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! There was something important I had to write… ah! **I'm willing to commission (as in, I'll pay you) someone to write the romance/tragedy of Quatre's mother and father.** Thing is, I really like the idea but I have no time to write it. If your interested please email me at Bcancelino@aol.com. **REVIEW**   
  
    **THANK YOU TO PEOPLE THAT REVIEW AND RETURN!!!**   
    

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    Thank you Ley, Lee, TashaSaphi, Ayanami-chan and Gemin16!! Your reviews kept me going for a while there! You guys rock. Also thanks goes to Val, but I see her all the time so… :shrug:   
  
    Also thank you to people that read and review! Like: Rei, Nim, Soccertwins, Jooles and Mara! You only reviewed once but its hard to keep track of GW fics and you guys had really inspiring reviews, thanks! 


	13. Approaching Storm.

    Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing- I'm not making ANY money, in ANY way- at all.   
    Warning: Am I shifting towards OOCness? It does matter to me… I guess Quatre's just developing differently in this… ne? Claudine is slightly OOC- seeing as how she is an actual person… or I don't know anymore @.@ :is confused: Oh, and the chapter name is cliché ^.^ Mwahahahahaha- fear me!   
  
Look!!!! I love this fic so much I spent an hour making a map for you! Please take the time to look at it, I know the places get confusing at times and so I hope this is helpful.  
  


****=Dwarven Lands  
$$$$=Zodiac Kingdom   
~~~~=Water  
____=Lands unspecified (not just the Mid-states)  
X=a small town that was named Sildu...  
  
  
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Northern Kingdom^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
**********_________@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
***********____@@@@@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************__@@Sanc Kingdom@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************____@ _o-f _ o-l-d_ @^^^^^^^$$$$$$$$$$  
**************________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****************________Cuatrica_X________$$$$$$$$$$  
*********__________________Lispar_Doomak $$$$$$$$$$  
******________________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****________________Mid-states___________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
***________________________________________$$$$$$$$  
**&________________________________________ $$$$$$$  
*&&&&&______________________________________$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&_________________________________ $$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&&&&&--------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&----------------South Republic---------------  
&&Nymph Woods&&---------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&------------------------------------------  


  
  
  
  
    Chapter 13: Approaching Storm.   
  
    _I don't understand… I just don't understand…_ Quatre moved his legs for a better position and cushioned his head with his arms. The roof of Claudine's apartment building had become his favorite place to think at night. It was there that he could have complete privacy and not be afraid of being discovered.   
    Quatre's father had, of course, sent out a search to find where Quatre had gone. Since Claudine was leader of an underground rebellion, if anyone asked where he or she could find her… people just seemed not to know. Quatre could no longer go out in public without a heavy cloak that covered his face to the point where he couldn't see. Nowadays he spent most of his time down below ground training unceasingly, training kept him from needing to think all the time. The training kept what he had learned from preoccupying his thoughts.   
    But nighttimes, those were different. At nighttimes he had no choice but to sleep or think. It wasn't even a choice, he couldn't always sleep anyway and when he did he would have nightmares. So to prevent all of this he stayed awake for hours into the dark cool morning mulling thoughts over in his head. Some were unpleasant, but he was having a nice night, that night they were only slightly unpleasant.   
    _How, after all the defilement the Zodiac Kingdom caused my mother, could my father possibly choose not to fight? I don't understand._ He had his eyes closed against the light of the full moon. _If he had really loved her… what am I saying? I don't understand!_ his brow furrowed. _All he ever talks about is peace and neutrality. Why doesn't he see that those who sit by and wait for peace get taken over by those who are willing to fight? Politics can't help this anymore. Politics couldn't help my mother._ A frown assaulted Quatre's lips.   
    _How can he not fight?! After all the horrible things done to them both, but mostly for her, why doesn't he fight? With his support the rebellion wouldn't need to take place. We would adopt an army and defend Cuatrica as it ought be defended._ Quatre, at the time, could not see the flaws in his thinking, such as: if his father chose to fight he would loose all of his peace loving followers and that wouldn't help at all. _Who cares about Heero Yuy anyway? He lived in a different time under different circumstances. Peace is not the way. He had designed his ideals for the wars going on between the mid-states. I may have been raised on his ideals but they just don't apply… it doesn't make any sense. I would _die_ rather than let Cuatrica be taken over by the Zodiac Kingdom._   
    Quatre paused, _That's what my father is afraid of: my dying. If that is what prevents him from fighting he is such a coward! A selfish coward! He would risk the memory of my mother, our country, the rights of free peoples, just on his own desire. That's disgusting… Ugh! I don't understand it at all._ Quatre let out a sigh of resignation and opened his eyes.   
    The moon, in her pure white glory, stared back at him. For a moment he stayed fixated on it. A flash of a memory ran through his head. Somehow the moon resembled a white party dress his mother once wore. It was very soft and crape-like in texture, and when she twirled it spun outward. He could remember because at his sister's ten year old birthday party, not too long before his forth one, she had spent the whole evening after cake dancing with… with… which sister? Iria? No, no, the next to the youngest… well, whichever. His mother had sung for everyone so nicely that she was cheered to go on but then instead she had grabbed Quatre and the twins, and Salasa and Jasmine, all the youngest, and she had done a circular dance of the lunar festival with them until they could no longer dance because they were laughing too hard. And then she grabbed Quatre's father and danced with him until he could no longer dance. Why, Lord Gabriel's first blush was when she danced with him and then made him dance with Iria.   
    _She was a beautiful, wonderful woman, and she loved music, that's how I'll always remember her,_ thought Quatre. Something blurred his vision of the moon unexpectedly. _Tears,_ he realized as he reached up and brushed them out of his eyes. Now the tune of the lunar festival song was playing in his head and his mother's voice was singing it sweetly. He had the sudden urge to play it on his violin as she had played the circular dance on her fiddle.   
    _Oh, I was only three, how ridiculous is this? I might be making this up!_ But as he continued thinking there became no doubt in his mind that it had to be real. The explanation he finally had for it was that mages supposedly had extremely good memories as a rule, and luckily that allowed him to remember all the way back to when he was three.   
    "Um… Quatre? What are you doing?" Claudine's head poked up from the side of the roof where their window would allow them to climb out and onto the sandstone behind a wall where most never came and no one could see.   
    As much as he liked Claudine, Quatre was still having trust issues with any person relatively close to him. Even if he thought of Claudine as a sister, he still couldn't trust family and sisters alike. He had closed off all of his deep thoughts and emotions in a chest to which only he kept the key.   
    Because of this conscious and ever-present secrecy he alluded the true answer to her question but started something that he could not have conceived would be so revealing that night. "I'm looking at the moon."   
    Claudine raised an eyebrow although this was unseen by Quatre in the dark. The moon did reflect nicely on her hair and so he could see that it blew wildly in the midnight wind.   
    With elfish skill and stealth like no other she jumped from her position on the windowsill to the top of the roof in one bound. For a moment she no longer looked humanoid but rather like some predator with grace and strength packed tightly in her body and coiling to release.   
    "Why?" she asked as she moved to lay next to Quatre. She turned her head to look at him rather than the moon. After all, the reason that she was asking was to give him a chance to open up to her like he once used to do. He was so changed ever since they had left his house. His darker thoughts radiated from his angelic body so that just under the surface you could see his rage and confusion seething.   
    Quatre didn't bother to look back at her, perhaps because he was blushing at being caught, or perhaps because she was so very close. "It's good to stop and take some time to do things like that. You know, small things."   
    "Is it?" Claudine asked distractedly.   
    Quatre nodded his head towards the moon, "Yes, don't you ever?"   
    "No."   
    "Why not?"   
    "It's a waste of time."   
    "I should hope not…" Quatre murmured. He thought back to his mother. "No, I don't think I wasted any time here."   
    "Is that a smile I detect?" Claudine tried to lighten the mood.   
    "Why do you think it's a waste of time?" So much for that. Finally, Quatre turned to face her.     It was harder for Claudine to talk with her face inches away from his. His eyes, teal in the starlight, consumed her vision and looked through her words into the person saying them. Her breath caught, _Is this how people feel when I read if they are telling the truth?_ "I've got better things to do than stare at the moon. I have a war to fight. Instead of contemplating something that's never going to change I would rather plan for the future."   
    "Does looking back hurt?"   
    Claudine withdrew slightly and blinked. The motive behind his question was not pressing, Quatre seemed more interested in seeing how she felt so he could know how to feel himself. "I- I suppose. But looking towards the future is preferable, that way I can take what hurts me and fix it."   
    A revelation swept across Quatre's features, "Fix it?"   
    "Ya…" Claudine nodded.   
    Quatre paused and moved his head back in its original position with his eyes closed. "What's broken?"   
    Claudine had to consider this more closely. First off, did she really feel like revealing any of her life to someone that would not return any of that trust. She perused Quatre's face. The way he was laying made him look like he was sleeping except for the tangible air that revealed the turning wheels in his head. He was contemplating what he should do… because in all realities and fancifulness of the word, he was lost. _I can put my feelings aside to help a friend. I can._   
    But her second problem was: what to say? What _was_ broken? Was it… family? No, her family still lived on in her heart in a perfectly unscarred and unscathed state, more perfect than any diamond, and just as unbreakable. It was not faith… or hope, courage, or love… It was… honor. Yes that was it, honor. Claudine answered as much.   
    This piece of information got more of a reaction out of Quatre than anyone's words had in more than a week. His eyes snapped open and he rolled over to lean on an arm and face Claudine. "Honor?"   
    "Yes," Claudine was surer of herself now, "honor." Her family honor was broken, shattered, and scattered among the tall towers and battlegrounds of the Zodiac Kingdom.   
    _It applies!_ Quatre recognized, _Everything that has happened, why I am so upset, it makes sense. Because my mother has not been avenged, our honor is tainted. Justice has not been served! That is why I have a desire to fight the Zodiac Kingdom and make them pay for what they have done, that is why my father has not. He does not see the destruction of honor. To him, my mother died doing what she believed in and he upheld those beliefs. As a way of keeping the honor that she died with he was abiding by her beliefs.   
    But I see the lack of honor here! I see that my mother was defiled, and her memory suffers for the lack of action taken to remedy the corruption that caused her death. She never believed in what Zodiac was doing anyway! To allow the source of her unhappiness and the cause of her death to walk free amongst the people she protected is a degradation of honor. My father can uphold her memory; I have that in my head. I will restore our honor.
_ A look of happiness had spread across Quatre's face at his eventual conclusion. The look of determination that Claudine returned caught him unguarded.   
    Slowly he considered, _If Claudine's honor is broken, if she has the same goal as I do, if she has faced the same tragedy… then what has caused this? Why does _she_ fight?_ "Why is your honor broken?" Quatre used the same language that she had used seemingly ages ago since before his revelation.     "Because of the Zodiac Kingdom," Claudine responded, once again efficiently avoiding the past.   
    "I mean… what actions caused it to be broken?" Quatre worded more carefully with honest concern in his voice.   
    For the first time that night Claudine brought herself to look at the moon, "My mother was human… my father was an elf. That, already, was not something acceptable in Elvin lands and after the rule of the mages ended; it was even less acceptable here in the lands of the Zodiac. Since the fall of the Sanc Kingdom, Elves and the Northern Kingdom have been mortal enemies. I used to live in the crevice between the Dwarven lands and the Sanc Kingdom, but when the Sanc Kingdom was taken over by the North Kingdom my father would run messages from the Elves to the loyal states in the northwest. My father received information about the alliance between North Kingdom and Zodiac, not only with slaves, but also there was to be a secret military alliance-"   
    "-No…" Quatre stared on disbelieving. He had never heard of such an alliance. The North Kingdom was a place of unspeakable evil, according to the way he was brought up. Few humans lived there, so it was even more unlikely that the biased Zodiac Kingdom would ally with such a country.   
    "There is one to this day." Claudine stated truthfully. "He was discovered by the Northern Kingdom and disappeared. My mother and I waited for him but after about a year I went on a journey into the north looking for him- without my mother's consent." Claudine narrowed her sorrowful eyes, "I found him. I found part of him at least. It makes me sick to think of how proud the North Kingdom was to put on display the decapitated head of the only elf captured since the Sanc fall.   
    "When I had returned home my mother had died from a disease I knew nothing about… and a broken heart. _I_ was the one who carried the message to the states, and from there I moved east to try and find a way that I could deal a blow with the same amount of destruction in it to Zodiac as they had dealt me. Just as I had lost my father and mother, as well as my rights and freedoms because I'm not fully human, I _will_ destroy them." Her fist had balled up at her sides and her eyes became downcast and grievously angry.   
    Quatre stared at his friend with eyes wide open and a gaping mouth. Claudine hadn't noticed yet how her revealing of her past had affected him. When she finally looked into his shocked face she flashed an expression of sincere confusion. Quatre gathered his breath and tried to uncrease his eyebrows. He was happy and sad, empathetic and sympathetic all at once. Shining teal eyes met soulful black and in that moment, Quatre had the strongest urge to hug Claudine and cry all of his problems on her shoulder. However, he wasn't ready to trust yet- his whole life felt like one large betrayal, but he knew he could give _something_. Therefore, he managed to say, "It's… it's the same as me. You're the same as me." The words felt detached from his tongue, as if he hadn't said them with clear thought, which he hadn't, but at the moment it didn't really matter.   
    With that same detached feeling, he saw his hand come up and run a finger across Claudine's cheek, which turned unknowingly red in the night air. Quatre let out a defeated sigh at his inability to express his feelings and could only repeat, "You're the same as me…" but this time he trailed off in a confused way, not knowing, once again, what to do or say. Thankfully Claudine solved that problem.   
    Quatre had dropped his defeated hand back down to his side almost as soon as he had brushed Claudine's cheek, but had he not, it would have fallen anyway because Claudine spun away and stood. "Well…" she conversationally avoided contact with Quatre, "We should sleep. Yup. Sleep." With that profound statement she "walked" away comically with a small hopping motion and a big hidden smile at her own behavior.   
    "Claudine?"   
    Claudine abruptly turned, "Eh?"   
    With one last look at the moon Quatre smiled at Claudine with sparkling eyes… then promptly sweatdropped. "Um… how do we get down?"   
    Claudine fell over.   
  
    "Milandre dithalk si colm de kin cilm et tuure altrek yaori. Mil haot dithalk Zodiac kaladraum neh et talek shree?" Quatre asked fluently. Claudine tapped her foot impatiently, not only could she NOT understand anything that he had said except "Zodiac", "et" (the) and, "shree" (something that ends a question), but he was also talking in a damnedable whisper. Most of what he was saying was garbled between herself, his dark, gray cloak, and their conversation.   
    "Tuure mechan keelee daot mock aloet. Zodiac si colm froam, mil dithalk et fnek lor. Argan Zodiac kaladraum utook schi neft cil doao. Etel etel katoo kin amar lac de toolir alam kotorn or di suk emet de lool!" The hidden voice responded in a panicked way, which only made Claudine more nervous since she couldn't catch what he was upset about. "Dithalk" seemed to mean -to listen- or -to hear- and so from that she used her basic knowledge of the language to disclose that he was panicked about hearing something about the Zodiac, and that there was going to be a "kotorn"- whatever that was.   
    Quatre bowed deeply, "Siliamnote kin amotraos zebil." Claudine recognized that phrase, it was still commonly used in Cuatrica. It mean literally, "Peace to your valorous family," but was used as a respectful and thankful farewell. There was a certain rolling of the 'r' in amotraos that Claudine could never capture, it was a very frustrating language for her.   
    "So…?" She waited expectantly. Now that Quatre worked with her she had contacts she never believed possible, and even she had not doubted their loyalty to the Winner/Yuy ideal, however, when Quatre asked, suddenly they were into a long and confusing conversation about something. The drawback was that no matter how much of the language of mages Quatre tried to teach her, she couldn't get it right.   
    Even behind the heavy cloak Claudine could see his smile at her cluelessness. In a flash the smile was gone though and he was back to all business. He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the crown hurriedly into an ally with beautiful sandstone arches and doors that led into the sides of apartments. After looking around briefly Quatre explained the situation, "The Zodiac Kingdom is approaching Cuatrica with a huge army of men." His eyes narrowed noticeably, "Obviously they don't expect us to just lay down at their feet; they are prepared to take us over with force. They should be here in a bit more than a day's time."   
    Claudine turned away, "This is bad, this is very bad." She counted off their problems on her fingers, "We won't be fully ready for our first head on battle by tomorrow, we don't even know where the bulk of the people stand. We don't have the support of the government or an idea of what sort of resistance the government will hold-"   
    "They're just being stupid," Quatre cut in.   
    "Huh?"   
    "The council would never actually ally with Zodiac, they say they will for protection, but if Zodiac wants to move an army into Cuatrica as a vantage point there's no way that our council will agree to the alliance. They are all still hung up on the ideals of Heero Yuy and their moral beliefs against fighting. My father will make sure of it. The people might be desperate enough to follow Zodiac- or they might follow us, chances are most of them don't care about the politicians view of the universe and how it should work. They will be concerned with themselves and that involves fighting on one side or another."   
    Claudine paused and rested her chin on a set of fingers, "Why would the people ally with Zodiac?! This is supposed to be a country loyal to principles of peace and freedom. Everything Yuy stood for, Zodiac goes against. This makes no sense, what could make your people so desperate?"   
    Quatre was rather surprised that she didn't know but spoke without being condescending, "Cuatricans are afraid of the other states. You remember how Yuy stopped us from fighting each other- with Zodiac gaining power and the Sanc Kingdom gone, replaced by the Northern Kingdom, Heero Yuy's ideas are dying out. They lived on in the north still because Cuatrica was closest to the Sanc Kingdom, but Mid-states in the south have started to bicker over land again, Zodiac is supplying weapons, wars will break out, and the defenseless Cuatrica is on the map to be taken over. Everyone knows that our _government_ won't fight back (and can't because we have no weapons), so instead they want Zodiac to protect them."   
    The truth dawned on Claudine, she had never understood before, "Now it makes sense! I used to be confused by the Zodiac Empire's ridiculous promises to 'unite the mid-states', but now the appeal is so much clearer. Under Zodiac's rule the states won't fight each other!"   
    "Right."   
    Now this was confusing, how could the Zodiac Kingdom be offering to do something that actually seemed like a _good_idea? They were offering peace… suddenly her eyes widened angrily, "Those bastards!! Unimaginable bastards! How can they sell _weapons_ to the same people that they are promising to bring peace to?! They are fueling the wars, what are they doing saying that they're gonna bring peace?! If they let the states keep the weapons… then… it doesn't make any sense!"   
    "I don't think they will let the states keep the weapons," said Quatre in an eerily calm voice. "The weapons were given to fuel the wars for the simple purpose that it will keep the mid-states too busy to notice Zodiac taking over Aldaraania. They don't want to take over all of the mid-states yet, they want allies inside the states, and they want the states to come to them willingly."   
    "That doesn't make any sense, warring states won't join the same government. Why do they need allies? What do they want from us? Obviously they are planning to take us by force anyway so… ugh! I don't get it." Claudine crossed her arms.   
    "Me neither," Quatre conceded. "You're right, their strategy makes no sense, but clearly they are trying to go through the north first."   
    Claudine nodded in understanding, "They'll use their allies to help them take over the middle states, and they want the north because it's right next to their buddies- the Northern Kingdom." She shook her head, "They won't let Cuatrica go, they need it, it's right next to the Old Sanc Kingdom, perfectly in position for trade with NK, and purely defenseless.   
    "At least, that's what THEY think. We may not have much time to prepare, but this city will not fall without a fight. We can hold them off from here for a couple of days in any case."   
    "Wh- what? Hey! Wait a minute! What do you mean by a couple of days? What then?" he grabbed her shoulder and looked angrily into her eyes.   
    With a cool reply she shook him off, "As soon as this resistance gets involved- the war begins. This isn't just Cuatrica's war, this is the South Republic's war. They won't be able to sent us reinforcements after only a couple of days… Face it Quatre, this country will probably fall, it has no weapons and its defenses are unmanned. No one was expecting Zodiac to attack and no one knows what to do. We may even win this battle, but their reinforcements will come before ours, and they will keep on coming. Then they will have enough men to arm the battlements and they will hold this country, allowing the NK to send troops from where they are. We must then retreat into the west and south, because right below us is Lispar, a strong ally of Zodiac's. We will continue to hold them off until reinforcements arrive, and the war continues from there."   
    Quatre stopped; he had never really realized that once the war started, his life and the lives of his friends would be nothing but battles. He hadn't thought deeply about the war as a whole, the farthest his thoughts flew were to the feuds between the states. Now the large distance between the Southern Republic and Cuatrica was very apparent to him. He ran an agitated hand through his cloaked hair and frowned.   
    _I thought that breaking off from my country to do what I thought was right was going to be easy... that I would feel nothing, what a joke. Breaking away from my family hasn't gotten to me yet, I haven't regretted leaving and I didn't hesitate to leave but… I feel… unwilling to leave Cuatrica and let it be taken over by those horrible, evil, people. Can I just leave them all? My family too… can I leave everyone for the sake of the war?_   
    Claudine watched as her friend tortured himself with thoughts that she desperately wanted to know so she could help him, but her questioning looks went unanswered. Quatre only furrowed his brow, his eyes started looking even more saddened, weight visibly sat on his shoulders, and he frowned deeply.   
    "Hey," Claudine said to him, she tilted her head so that she could see inside his hood, "If you're going to stress me out with that look, you had better tell me what's bothering you." It was, she realized, another semi-attempt at gaining his trust.   
    Apparently Quatre was still insecure about his trust and where he put it. "What would you rather I do? Jump for joy?"   
    Her automatic response: "Sure, why not, jumping is fun!" She began bouncing around in small jumps as they started walking out of the alley.   
    Quatre smiled, "You remind me of a rabbit," her jumping continued, "A human-sized, insane, rabbit." They both laughed.   
    "There, you see? You should smile when you feel sad because it makes you feel better, and you look much cuter when you smile!" Her jumping continued… jumping… jumping… she finally stopped short and fell over when she realized what she had said. _"You look cuter when you smile"?! Where the hell did that come from?! I can't believe I said that!_   
    Quatre was blinking at her in an innocent, confused way. Perhaps he chose not to hear what she had said, or thought that he had heard something else. He helped her off the floor as the again returned to the hustle and bustle of the square.   
    Quatre felt a twang of fear when he pictured the square filled with Zodiac soldiers, terrorizing the vendors, stealing food, acting rudely, harassing women, and selling slaves. Slaves! In _his_ square! In place of the camels he saw the Calvary's horses. Over by the drink stand he saw armed soldiers. There, by the public park, he saw one of his people being beaten for resisting and his family being dragged away to be put in jail. Quatre's breath came in quicker spurts. There was a heap of garbage that recently orphaned children were playing in and picking food out of. Now one of the vendor's store was on fire, now there were arrows flying, making more stores and homes catch fire, now flaming bottles of alcohol were being thrown into houses, now people screamed and ran in fear. Now people jumped from their windows to save themselves. Now that woman and her crying baby were toppled over by a crumbling building. The blind man fell over with arrows protruding out of his back. The baker threw pans at oncoming guards but they only advanced to skewer him. People fell dead around his feet, blood stained his shoes, people screamed bloody murder, children cried…   
    Claudine whacked him over the head with the back of her hand. "OI!!!! I've been talking to you!!! Me!*"   
    "Huh?" he vaguely stepped out of his horrible vision.   
    "Where did you space out to?! I've been asking you if you knew that guy for about a minute and a half! Nata!**"   
    "Umm, what guy?" Quatre snapped back finally, he looked around and saw what she must have been referring to right before she said-   
    "The one waving us frantically towards the Tavern***." Quatre inclined his head and squinted at the very short craggy boy.   
    Somehow the boy looked familiar… but he couldn't quite place it. He concentrated harder, a memory flashed through his head…   
  


________________________________________________________________   
  
*Me- remember that from the 1st chapter? It's an expression of frustration.   
**Nata- used in context- a swear word. Kinda like a god, made just for the purpose of swearing.   
***the Tavern- there is no public drinking in Cuatrica, however, that underground place that had a bar is referred to, by those who know it, as the Tavern.   
________________________________________________________________

  
  
    _"Well, here's your supply, as promised." A tall man with jet black hair and orange eyes stated. Quatre stared in awe as he handed the list of weapons he had delivered to Claudine. Having been living with strict followers of Yuy's code, he had never seen even a list of so many weapons as he just had! He didn't even know what half of them were- doubtless Claudine would soon teach him.   
    "Thank you, Mr. Kayechit I'll be right back, I just have to go and check it with my own list." She bowed slightly and ran off to do who-knows-what.   
    Quatre and the man were left in awkward silence. Mr. Kayechit coughed once or twice before trying, "That should hold you guys for a while, right?"   
    Quatre nodded dumbly and decided to say what was on his mind for the sake of small talk, "I've never seen so many weapons before…"   
    Mr. Kayechit laughed, "Local boy, eh? Don't worry, you'll be traveling soon."   
    Quatre gave him a confused look and was about to ask what he had meant when a small scraggily boy ran in with flailing limbs. "Master- urk.. I mean, Sir! The carriages are waiting!"   
    "Go on up… I will be there shortly." The assistant bowed to both Quatre and his teacher and ran back up the stone steps with energy and enthusiasm.
_   
  
    "Oh! I remember him now. He worked with Mr. Kayechit…"   
    "WHAT?!" Suddenly Quatre was being pulled recklessly, EXTREMELY RECKLESSLY, across a street full of TRAFFIC.   
    Three heart attacks later… Quatre was on the other side panting, "Claudine, WHY did you do that?!"   
    "C'mon, walk and talk!" She pulled the swirly eyed boy along with her toward the Tavern. "Don't you remember what My Kayechit said at the end of our meeting?"   
    Quatre gave no answer, still being swirly eyed and all…   
    "He said that he would contact us from the outside if he heard anything that he should warn us about… this could be important!" At that point they reached the young hyper messenger. "What news?"   
    The messenger seemed to bounce in place, "It's urgent news! Bad news! The Zodiac Kingdom is approaching Cuatrica, with a huge army!"   
    There was a looooooooooooong period of silence…   
    "Um… we knew that." Quatre took the opportunity to look pointedly at Claudine as to say: _See? We ran across the street suicidally for nothing!_   
    The messenger face faulted, but the effect didn't last long, "Well, perhaps you do indeed… BUT did you know that there is a large fight breaking out on the east end of town? There will be blood in the streets soon-"   
    "What?!" Quatre grabbed the boy's shirt.   
    "There are some that want to support you, and some who want to support Zodiac, and soon they will all kill each other-"   
    Quatre felt his heart chill. Everything he had grown up thinking his town to be was a lie. Everything was a lie. The Cuatricans Quatre knew would never try to murder each other in the streets. Why was the world turning upside down all the time?!   
    Claudine's eyes had widened but she wasted no time. "C'mon! We have to stop this at once!" Quatre snapped out of his shock and followed her disappearing form down the streets.   
  
  
  
I know, delay is evil!!!!! And I had planned for weekly updates buuuuuuuut, GOMEN NASAI :bows: I have finals… when summer begins the chapters will fly- lookee them flying! I hope you're enjoying- I am. This chapter ended before it was supposed to… :shrug: sorry, it was the right length and I saw the "oportunidad" to end it there- this way you get to read SOMETHING, and its long enough to be fulfilling!   
**I am emailing author alerts!!!!! If you want me to stop emailing you, reply me and tell me not to email you :P or you can just delete it ^.^****   
**


	14. Faith, Hope, and Bloodlust.

  
    Well, I got a lot of complaints about how this fic focuses too much on Quatre and Claudine. Six of thirteen chapters focus on them and the first four chapters are short. So I will mix it up for you. A lot of you have asked where the other characters are. BUT I WARN YOU! It wasn't supposed to be written this way! Everything that happens to Quatre in Cuatrica is supposed to set up the war and a major plot line. I was trying to make it linear and easier to follow- oh well.   
    Be prepared for cliffhangers, and chapters that won't make sense until much later because they happen at different times all together. You asked for it ^.^ I don't mind writing it.   
    **Warning: Rated "R" for a reason!!! CONTENT NOT MEANT FOR YOUNGIN'S EYES!** I would warn for OOCness… but I REALLY don't think its OOC.   
    Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimers Apply.   
  


****=Dwarven Lands  
$$$$=Zodiac Kingdom   
~~~~=Water  
____=Lands unspecified (not just the Mid-states)  
X=a small town that was named Sildu...  
  
  
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Northern Kingdom^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
*********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
**********_________@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
***********____@@@@@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************__@@Sanc Kingdom@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**************____@ _o-f _ o-l-d_ @^^^^^^^$$$$$$$$$$  
**************________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****************________Cuatrica_X________$$$$$$$$$$  
*********__________________Lispar_Doomak $$$$$$$$$$  
******________________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
****________________Mid-states___________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
***________________________________________$$$$$$$$  
**&________________________________________ $$$$$$$  
*&&&&&______________________________________$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&_________________________Shorchiff $$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&--------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&----------------South Republic---------------  
&&Nymph Woods&&---------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&------------------------------------------  
  


  
    Chapter 14: Faith, Hope, and Bloodlust.   
  
    Smoke filled the atmosphere of the four slave traders' room. Rather that the whole slave wagon had stopped and the slave traders were getting settled for that particular camp spot. They were down in Shorchiff, and very close to a trading city on the northern border near the Zodiac Kingdom. Since Shorchiff was so very close to the Southern Republic they had to stick around the northern border to receive a low level of assurance for trade and some safety.   
    The one wearing a paled yellow shirt, bedraggled for all it was worth (which was not much), cut the tips off of some more smoker rolls and passed them to the winner, a bald headed man with small eyes and big rolls of fat seeping over his pants and under the end of his shirt. The leafy substance that was put into the rolls was addictive, cheap and gave the smoker a rather elated feeling with the benefits of full concentration, which was why they were then plying a betting game of "readers' choice". They would bet either money or smoker tabs on a game consisting of papers with writings on them that had a certain power, and, if thrown down in a certain order, produced victory.   
    The same aforementioned bald one dealt his three paper slips and smiled. "Well, that be given me three charlinks and about a pound o' tabs. Ready to stop before I gots yer teeth as well?" The crowd, except the man being addressed laughed.   
    "Hold on there, I aintent gots no more tabs 'sides those thar. I's got dibs on that new girl, the prutty one with honey hair, I'm sayin'. So I give ya that one instead, I'm sayin'."   
    "Yer bettin' yer try on the new one?" The other said through crooked and blackened teeth, ruined with years of smoking.   
    "Thar's always next time round," the one with a shirt the color of urine replied.   
    "Can't be a virgin two the time. This be virgin I's promising you, with the way them fancy slavers was treatin' her. They didn't even sell'r clothes- let'r keep 'em. She was noble blood, and is, till this night. I'll take that as a bet. No trade if that be what you be thinking." He sat back down with his pot and prepared to be dealt his hand.   
    The urine donned one's luck wasn't running very high that night, luckily for "baldy". He felt that his luck was definitely increasing, what, with the way they had easily gotten off with the government convoy slave. Besides the fact that the whole point was for them eventually to be taken over, the heist had gone well. Baldy hadn't thought that the whole betrayal of the government was made up for by only one slave- but the fact that he got to take her, that gave him immense anticipation to the point of pleasure. Plus, he got to keep most of his pot and tabs, so all in all it was a good day.   
    He passed by his tent and secured his winnings before heading into the slave caravan.   
  
    The three other slave traders sat dejectedly around the table, they were tired of the game and would have rathered enjoying what they won than cleaning up. The sun was just going time so they figured that they had plenty of time to get raving, stinking drunk after they smoked some tabs worth of rolls. On about the forth tab, when the urine-shirted one ran out, he muttered bitterly to himself. He regretted his later decision to give up the girl and spoke his thoughts, "I was lookin' fawurd to her. I's havin' my eye on her for long days now."   
    "Shouldn't'a bet'r then," came a distracted reply from a thin, cruel looking man with long slender fingers rolling some tabs. He looked the best of the bunch, cleaner, more sober, and intelligent, but behind the intelligence in his eyes crept around bitter, vengeful cruelty at the world. He, of them all, realized how the world worked and didn't especially like his position in it. Had it not been for his poverty and helplessness, his only weapon being his mind, he would never have had to become a slave trader. In fact, his former position in society was so low he had to work hard and connive to become part of this misshapen, unlawful, shortsighted group of traders. He glared down at his winnings ungratefully.   
    "She was so soft lookin' you know? Not like that old other girl."   
    "Nothin' wrong with Kira," the other responded almost automatically. He had had plenty of nights with the girl and didn't find her bad at all. In fact, he found that if he gave her extra food she would even be a bit more cooperative. The memories alone were enough to make him start to harden. That, and the fact that every once in a while there was a howl of hedonistic pleasure or pain from the caravan. It was hard to ignore the calls that baldy and the girls were making, but the others were used to them in a way. They didn't need to worry, baldy always talked about his heady sadistic pleasures… and their former slaves had had the scars to prove it.   
    "Now, that sounds like a good screw, very entishing girl.* That other one, she's long used though… I was in the mood for somethin' wiggly. Other girl's lost all her fight. That's half the fun."   
    "Kira can be a good screw if you touch'r right." The taller, leaner of the two said under his breath. He was concentrating less and less on his smoker rolls and more on those nice nights that he had had with her. He could hear the sounds of Kira squealing in fright- it had been a while since she fought him. She must have been apprehensive to anyone else. What he felt wasn't pity; it was more of a possessiveness. He could remember when he could force those sounds out of her. Now he was starting to ache for her… No one had ever appreciated him before like Kira had. Of all the people he knew Kira was the one who considered him a person the most. To him her eyes said so.   
    "Fine, you have'r. I guess I'll just wait for something fresh." The fat one huffed.   
    Suddenly the taller of them stood and started walking out towards the slave caravan.   
    "Wher'ya goin'?"   
    "I'm in the mood now, gonna pick up Kira before baldy gets too far." He stalked off into the dusky night.   


___________________________________________________________   
  
*He pronounced "enticing" wrong.   
___________________________________________________________

  
  
     "Lady," Kira shook Relena a bit. Relena groaned and curled into a tighter ball. "Lady, lady, you told me to wake you."   
    "Huh?" Relena's sore throat murmured. She opened her eyes to the dim cavern and squinted, there were large dots in front of her eyes and pain so great she thought that her head might explode, or sizzle into a melted mass.   
    "You told me to wake you, lady. The sun will set within the hour and they'll be here not too long after."   
    Relena blinked herself into reality and suddenly shot up. "No!"   
    "Shh, sh-" Kira quickly placed a hand over Relena's mouth. "Don't make noise, they might come…" she whispered.   
    Now that Relena was in her right mind she could actually observe the slave girl. The girl's eyes were sad and brown… and her hair was an unknown color but looked black and matted with dirt and other things and everything about Kira screamed hopelessness. There was hopelessness in the way she moved and talked, the way she looked at Relena, the way she carried herself. This girl had obviously been broken.   
    Finding strength within herself, Relena took a breath and tried to put a confident and encouraging look on her face. "Don't worry, we're going to escape tonight."   
    Kira looked at her gravely and silently. There was no hope in her manner still, in fact, all she was showing was pity.   
    "What? We have at least an hour to prepare, and I'm feeling better now. We can't possibly just sit here and let it happen to us!"   
    "Shh!" Kira laid a hand on Relena's shoulder, "Please, please be quiet. You can't fight the inevitable, but at least you may prolong it."   
    Relena blinked in shock. The way that Kira had spoken, it was not the way that Relena knew slaves to speak. Slaves were lowborn people whose families had sold them for money. They didn't have an education, and certainly didn't know words like 'inevitable'. "Y-you're of high class?" she stuttered in fear. It wasn't possible, everything that she had been taught told her it wasn't, and yet… slavery never was very appealing to her, even though she used to own quite a few.   
    "I'm a slave," Kira corrected her, "That's of no class."   
    They stared at each other for a moment, and it was that moment that took Relena to realize that Kira had truly been broken, in the deepest sense of the word. Fear grasped her at the thought that within the time of a couple of months she could be just like Kira. It was a horrible thought, it made her shiver and so she decided that the "inevitable" just simply _had_ to be prevented. _I will escape from this hell, and by Nata, I _will_ take her with me!_ "No," Relena tried again, "What were you before you were a slave?"   
    A blank look crossed Kira's face, and then a look of sad remorse. She bowed her head, "I- I don't remember…. Nata, I don't remember." She doubled over and wept into her lap.   
    Relena regarded her with pity, and took her resolve again into mind. She laid her arm across Kira's back and comforted her, "Now, now… perhaps you've just blocked it out because it hurts too much to remember, but try. Do you remember your parents? When you were small, your family?"   
    Slowly Kira stopped shaking. She furrowed her brow and searched her mind for things that she no longer allowed herself to think about, however, when she searched for them and pondered on them with concentration, the memories washed anew in her mind, and fresh tears started. After another bout of crying and comfort she was finally able to answer the question. "My father was an official… he was the mayor of a city in the Kingdom of Zodiac…" suddenly her eyes widened and her fists clenched in anger. "They took us! The entire family!" She was so angry she forgot to whisper. "The person running for mayor had our entire family 'disappear', and they took everyone away from me! They all went north, to the northern kingdom and I was circulated around the south," she began to weep in anger then, "They said it was pity compared to the north… that at least I would last. I wish I could have gone with them, I wish I was dead!"   
    Now it was Relena that shushed the other. "Hush now," her heart was beating rapidly at the things that she had heard, but she hadn't time to think of them then. She promised herself she would think of them when she was free. "Listen, I am going to escape tonight, and you shall come with me- don't shake your head- you shall. Come, we need to prepare," Relena rose painfully to her swollen feet, although she didn't know why they were swollen, probably because she had been lying down on an uncomfortable, moving, wooden floor for days and was drugged with something impure.   
    "But how?" Kira asked as they both stood and looked at what they had. Around the "room" there was a bucket of waste, a bucket of nasty water and a rag, the deteriorating animal skin Relena had been laying on, and stray hay.   
    With the look at her resources, Relena seemed disconcerted but tried not to show it to her already insecure friend. "Anything that can be thrown is a weapon if it does damage." She was known as a very good public speaker and student, and used those skills to take command now, "There," she pointed, "that bucket of excretion, that is our primary weapon both in and out. Let's see if we can do something with this water before we empty it to use the bucket. Gather up the hay. If we tie together bundles as hand held weapons with pieces of the rag we might do some damage. Maybe we can use the blanket to obscure their vision somehow."   
    "Obscure?"   
    "Block. We must work quickly, we've wa- spent too much time already." With that they began to work.   
  
    A scratchy voice spoke with an accent and a high pitch, "Interesting setup- so where's the boy?"   
    There was another, different cackling, "I have fun with this one, I do. Quite interesting. The boy is stubborn, he is, and it amuseth me to ends of none."   
    "I liked my job with the other two better-"   
    "Too morbid for my taste-"   
    "Oh, but romantic it was, say I, I say."   
    "Too morbid? Yours is dallying so much he started a war! So where _is_ that boy?"   
    "Look and see, for purposes your own."   
    "Well! That's not even funny, why are you laughing? You have quite a sick sense of humor, and no pity!"   
    "I'm having fun, I am."   
  
    Baldy intently creaked his way up the steps to the caravan and smiled slimily. After unlocking the three locks with three different keys slowly, as to excite himself with anticipation and frighten the girl to the point of heady terror.   
    The door opened outwards and he took a step inside only to be confronted with a large, smelly, dripping wet animal skin smack in the face. "What by Nata?!" It fell of its loose hanging on the wall and enveloped its raging victim. The weight of the wet fur was enough to close in around the slaver's head, effectively obstructing his line of sight. Before he could back out, Kira pushed him forward towards Relena as unprecariously as she could. The man, baldy, groped for something, or the someone that had pushed him, but all hope for him was lost as Relena pulled that water bucket over her shoulder and swung it across his head the hardest she could manage.   
    The man let out a roar of pain and fell to his knees. The yell had stunned both of the girls in their first fight for their life, but instinct soon took over. Baldy managed to free the skin off his head, which was bleeding from a cut on the back and flung the skin at Kira, who was in the process of opening the door. She yelped, and as weak as they had made her with malnutrition, lack of exercise, and rape, her weak body stumbled back into the wall and she dropped, though not out.   
    This left the brunt of the escape on the shoulders of Relena, who took the weight and seemed to transfer it into energy of sorts for another merciless blow to baldy's head. Although he was still not prepared enough to defend himself, somehow that blow did not hurt his soft brain as much as the first, cushioned blow had. Seeing as how he was about to get up, Relena tried for another blow to give them time to escape, but this time baldy spun and blocked the bucket with his forearm. It ripped from her grasp and flew across the room. She gasped in distress and took a preparatory step back to run away. It wasn't the smartest, or the bravest thing to do, and she had all but forgot Kira in the headily desperate fear that bombarded her mind. Logic flew away at the malicious look in baldy's eyes. Baldy grabbed her arm and yanked her down and she impacted with the floor with a hard, loud sound. Her vision whitened for a second and she knew that something had broken.   
    He stepped over her and prepared to bash her face in with his fist when something hit him hard enough in the side to throw the heavy man off balance and he stumbled a little. Kira regained her footing quicker, being lighter and more nimble, and before baldy could gain bearings he was doused with a bucket of feces just as Relena painfully rolled out of the way to avoid most of it. He howled in frustration, but not in anger yet- somehow this only seemed to fuel his perversity.   
    With a step towards the pivoting women in the slight darkness, he luckily slipped on the excretions lining the floor. Unluckily, he slipped and fell forward, and just forwards enough to catch Kira's ankle. The girl fell with a shriek and kicked out to no avail.   
    Relena was inches from the door when she saw her friends go down. There was so little room left between her and freedom that she could have made it out easily. She only hesitated in her mind, but the pause was so brief that she was already turning to help her fellow slave before she knew it. It was only human to be tempted to just make a run for the door, and the welcomingly dangerous woods without, but there was something in Relena that almost didn't even let her consider it. It was true that she had a very good upbringing with her family of Dorlian's, but it was an internal desire, bred from more than blood and upbringing alone that compelled her to sprint back to Kira's side.   
  
    _"Regret this, she will, say I."_   
  
    She knew that even by flinging herself into the large offender would not make him loose his four-limbed stature on the ground. He had moved over poor Kira by straddling her and began to choke her with a rabid grin.   
    Fear rose in Relena's throat, now not only for her freedom, but also for Kira's life. The noble slave girl thrashed and gasped but no air was entering her lungs. Now Relena panicked, she didn't know what to do or how to help, she couldn't help Kira with her hands, and now baldy had deemed her harsh methods of battering him into submission with a bucket useless. Her breath came in quicker gasps, almost as strained as Kira's and tears sprung to her eyes as she panicked. She knew that she absolutely _must_ save Kira. She _would not_ leave her stranded, but getting them both killed-   
    Another thought occurred to her- she still had her makeshift knife, but using that alone would do as much damage as her hands would. He could easily overpower her. But, she considered, if she used two weapons… She ran for the bucket and leapt over one of the scoundrel's extended hands. When she landed and collapsed she remembered her earlier injury and realized it had been her ankle that had given out. She cursed the best she could, but put the pain to the back of her mind and focused on helping the helpless. No longer could she really think about her actions, they had all become instinct, otherwise she would have collapsed from the pain of simply putting weight on her foot. She was already faint, but intent on keeping a clear head, she let her inner strength guide her body.   
    With a swift movement and a limp she grabbed the bucket by the handle in the strongest grip she could manage, so strong it made her hand ache, and rushed at baldy.   
    First she swung the bucket, which he anticipated and blocked violently. She was prepared for it and although she did stagger (and cringe when weight landed heavily on her ankle) she managed not to fall and now twisted her body the other way to slash at his back with her handmade weapon.   
    The slaver made such a pain filled scene at the three deep scratches across his back that Relena almost smiled ferally with satisfaction. She had no time, however, he did not let go of Kira's neck but squeezed harder and Relena acted instantly. She wasn't thinking or seeing properly. The blood was rushing to her head and everything was red tinted and spotty. After the damage she did, baldy had arched, and his head went up with his yell. This exposed his throat quite nicely for Relena, and whatever she wanted to do with it.   
    Without a thought she flung the pail up over her head with both hands, and brought the long rope handle around his neck without too much difficulty. She let go of the wooden handle guard so it could press on his Adams apple, and shifted her hands to pull from the bucket. Baldy's hands flew away from a forgotten Kira and tried to grasp the rope. His eyes bulged as he clawed his neck and let out strangled gurgling sounds that mimicked the ones he had emitted from Kira.   
    Even when his eyed began to roll Relena pulled, she'd wanted him dead, dead for what he had done to countless women, dead for the slavery, dead for Kira's rape, dead for the rape he had planned for her, dead for trying to kill Kira, dead for kidnapping her, just dead. She was beyond reason, and it seemed to her that the only escape for them was if he was dead, hell, at the moment, she wanted all of the traders dead, she was almost willing to hunt for them as soon as this one was dead.   
    When it was clearer to him he was going to die soon he had made an attempt to throw himself back onto her to discover that she had propped her knee against his spine to make sure he would die if he tried.   
    Kira watched all of this in fear; she began to edge away, closer to the door expecting escape, but froze when tables turned. Baldy grabbed Relena's long hair and pulled on it jerkingly. Tears sprung to Relena's eyes as a reflex, but the murderous and completely animal look in them flared. Instead of letting go, she allowed him to rip it out if need be, and used the pain as motivation to tighten her pull.   
    Now that he was loosing energy he was starting to press into her knee anyway, and with actual first concern used the last of his strength to pull against her, even if the rope tightened.   
    The rope did tighten, in fact, it tightened so much that it snapped. Relena and Kira's eyes went wide with fear, even as the backlash careened Relena to the ground backwards and the bucket flying. Baldy caught himself forwards and took time to breath, although he was not as bad off as he could have been. He was, after all, much stronger than Relena, and had been able to lesson some of her pull. When he was able to get on his knees before Relena could scramble to hers through her pounding headache Kira lost her courage. She turned and fled for the door in terror that her near death experience with the infallible man would become a _real_ death experience shortly. She would never forget the feel of his hands squeezing the life out of her, just as she would never forget the many nights of rape she had endured. She was at her limit, pushed as far as she could go, and she could not handle it anymore, she gave into her fear and attempted to flee.   
    A few paces from the door, the entrance opened on its own, causing her to skid to a stop, and by the time she saw who it was, she was already running back towards the discarded bucket. Cruel, intelligent eyes narrowed, and putrid, violent fear washed over Kira. _This one,_ she shakily thought, _Forbit._ She bared her teeth like a cornered cat and was totally ready to kill the man in her way of the entrance- and more importantly, exit.   
    She had been cooped in that caravan for too long, alone, or in the company of a load of brutal womanizers, and this one, the one she despised more than the others put together, was the one standing in between her, and freedom. He was so patronizingly evil. He gave her food in exchange for love- like she could ever love him! _No one_, no human, could ever love _him_. Did he think she was so much like a pet, so inhuman, so moronic that he could bribe loyalty and love from someone that beat and raped her almost daily? It wasn't not rape just because she stopped fighting, and she might have even responded to him just for the food, but her feelings had never warmed up towards him past hate.   
    "What the hell's goin' on here?" Forbit asked in a commanding, edgy voice.   
    "They's trying to 'scape." Now that baldy was on his feet he stalked warily, but anxiously towards his prey, Relena.   
    Forbit's sharp eyebrows furrowed bulbously. He couldn't decide whether to be more angry or confused… but chose angry. "Now why'd you do that when ya' could've it so much better har'?" He frowned at her with a sour, thirsty look. "Ya've got less of a chance out there than ya' do with me. We get along good, I treat ya good." His voice was low and breathy, and it sent chills down the back of its listeners.   
    Maybe those chills stimulated Kira's spine, "Treat me good?! You- you treat me like a pet, and- and you think of me like a stupid dog or something to use to pleasure yourself! I'm not a slave you conceited, despicable… bastard!! I hate you! I hate you!" She covered her ears from the sound of the non-existant wind rushing around her, everything swirled, and all she could seem to remember were her dark thoughts of hate, despise, hurt, humiliation, anger, rage, etc. "I'll always be better than you no matter how much you demean me! I hate you! I hate you, you low born son of a mage!!"   
    Forbit's anger gave way to shock, and he paused just enough to absorb all she said- and then slipped quickly back into rage. She couldn't have chosen worse words to say to someone that had spent their life in bitter resentment over their class, their position, and their position, and then put all his hope into the fact that he had control, power, security, and appreciation, maybe even admiration into that one slave, Kira, who just threw everything back in his face.   
    Through his rage came vicious clarity. He had not had the other things… and never would, his life was a failure, he would, however, always have control. In order to alleviate some of the weight settled on his chest, he would exercise that control because it was the only thing that he had. A very logical conclusion.   
    So very unfortunate for Kira.   
    Now he smiled a crazed, hurt smile, but the hurt was hidden under a level of malicious hatred. When he started stalking her a chill ran through her heart at the pain promised in his eyes. Unknowingly she took a step or two back, trying to distance herself from the oncoming slaver. Her foot knocked on something and she remembered the bucket that had been discarded. Without looking down she desperately grabbed the broken string and hurled the bucket at her attacker with all her strength.   
    Forbit blocked, but Kira's real intention had been to distract him. She still had no way out without going through him, and so… she went through him. She rushed him and brandished her straw weapon. With a cry she plunged it into Forbit's thigh and left a gash there, welling blood. However effective it was in making Forbit suffer pain by the judge of his cry, the straw snapped under the stress and was hardly a reliable weapon or usable for a second go.   
    Forbit clutched his leg and she saw this as her only hope for escape. She threw herself past him and tried to run for the door. Her hand went out for the door handle but her whole body was jerked back when Forbit hooked his arm about her neck.   
    "You want the door, eh? I've got the perfect place for you!" Forbit ended his harsh speculation with a yell. She kicked and scratched and clawed, but to no avail. He only put her in a tighter headlock and practically dragged her behind himself out the door. She thumped and skinned her shins as she was dragged down the steps and continued to thrash and call out obscenities.   
    He forced her down around the back of the caravan where a metal pole stuck out from the top. With one hand he fished out a long chain with cuff locks at the end and another short one with hook locks, and a whip. At the sight of the long leather weapon she squirmed anew. She had never in her life been whipped, but she knew that it was bad… and she knew others who had. When there was another feisty slave with her months ago they had decided to whip her. Through the canvas of the caravan Kira had heard her scream in pain each of the thirty lashes, and later she had helped comfort the broken girl and heal the deeply carved wounds.   
    One end of the hook lock went on her slaves collar, and the other wrapped around and hooked on the skeleton of the caravan. She was effectively limited to almost no room to move, for her neck could only be pulled six inches away from the pole at best. Of course she tried to reach up and free herself from the lock, but Forbit held her hands behind her back and whispered angry, insane words at her.   
    "Lesse how you like fresh air now. You'll wish that you'd never crossed me wench- worse, _slave_, and that's all you'll ever be… less than me!"   
    Once he had cuffed one of her hands he held her other hand fast and slung the chain over the pole. The moment of freedom was so fast that her hand was only halfway to her neck before he yanked the chain and it flew painfully upward, straining in its socket; her feet lifted off the ground and his arm trembled with effort before her other wrist was cuffed and she could stand on her toes to relieve some of the pull on her shoulders.   
    She screamed in terror even before he could do anything, and her screams mixed with those of Relena inside the Caravan. Her screams stopped when Forbit rammed her head against the pole and lashed her legs. She bit her bloody lip until her legs gave way and her body's weight pulled her arms tightly… she might have bitten through her lip if she hadn't screamed from the pain and clenched her aching jaw instead.   
    With a vengeful rage like none other Forbit beat her until she saw white with each lashing, until she couldn't hear anything because of the blood in her ears, until her back was raw, clotheless and almost skinned, and until she passed out.   
  
    Relena was breathing heavily and shaking with profound confusion mixed with exhaustion and fear. Her bloodlust was gone as instantly as it came, and so was her energy, so now she was depending on her adrenaline, which her fear provided plenty of. As baldy warily eyed her like a cornered cat, she thought through her options of escape. Her straw knife was useless, the buckets were too far to reach, and the wet skin was useless. She was a good distance from her attacker, yet he still stood between her and the door. She knew she couldn't attack him with her hands because he was stronger… but, she considered, maybe that meant that he was slower.   
    She eyed an area where she might be able to run through if she were fast enough and didn't dally, but ran as fast as her legs could carry her.   
    She had forgotten about her ankle. Within three steps she was ready to cry from the pain, but her body couldn't help but favor her ankle as white flashes and spots lanced her eyesight. The result was that she was much, much slower than she had intended. With one last cringe of pain as she knew her bad ankle would roll on her next landing all of a sudden she was thrown back before her ankle could reach the ground.   
    She had been rammed in the side of the head by the hefty slaver, and now she was sailing across the room in the opposite direction of the impact on the side of her head, which muddled her brain, but she was reawakened when her body skidded across the wooden floor for at least a meter and splinters the size of fingers tore into her. When she rolled to a stop and stared at the ceiling, it was the first time (as she could feel every inch of her body enflamed in stinging pain) that she considered just giving up.   
    Something like inner strength, or hope, or determination bubbled up inside of her and she put that notion aside. She tried to lift her throbbing head from the ground and winced when it felt like she had been shot in the head with an arrow. Her body was moving slower and weaker than ever, and just like that, he was on top of her.   
    He pinned her arms with his hand, and her legs with his legs and left her with nothing to do but scream, so she did scream. She only stopped screaming when he tried to kiss her, and when he failed, he licked her with his sticky, gross tongue. He licked her cheek, and painful as it was for her, Relena thrashed her head and torso so much he couldn't get to her ear, but he managed to trace her jaw down to her nape and defile her there for a time while she protested with screams and panicked jolts.   
    He pulled his head back and began to use his free hand to fondle her, and pinch her breasts painfully, and then lick there. She screamed profanities and threats and anything nasty and hateful she could think of, she screamed for help, and screamed bloody murder. Her only moment of hope was when his sweaty palm slipped as he was sucking her breast and she freed one hand to claw at his head and get him away from her, he only took her seriously when she was about to claw at his eyes and pulled back. His full weight resting on her legs had caused them to go numb with pinched nerves and lack of blood so she could no longer even struggle there. With a large smile and a wicked gleam in his eyes her tore her hand away and up to her other hand, where he switched hands and went back to besmirching her.   
    "Y'know," he whispered, "Yer struggles make it even more arousin'." With that, all her hope died.   
    She lost most of her voice in her raw and swollen throat at some point and could only sob as he touched her clit and caused sharp pains to pull at her abdomen. When he prepared to complete his rape, and discarded his pants, and touched his hardness, she suddenly found her voice and began screaming with as much ferocity and desperate anguish as she could. In the end though, he took her, with no mercy, and if Relena thought that she had felt pain before- the meaning was redefined as he invaded her body, shredded her soft inner tissue, and rammed into her forcefully. By that time she tried to scream but her mouth would only open silently.   
    When he finished with her he left her there shivering, alone, in the darkness where it was completely and deathly silent to curl up on herself and sob brokenly.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    **I won't ramble on… but I need feedback on this chapter- so review it.** Oh, and by the way, if you flame me- I will eat you, bc this is very necessary for the fic, all will be clear… in a long time. ^.^ As always, I don't mind negative CONSTRUCTIVE comments.   
    **PLEASE don't drop this fic!!**


	15. Where Are You?

  
    Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing… standard disclaimers apply.   


  
Chapter 15: Where are you?   


  
    Trowa sat in the center of his room with three candles surrounding him. The first one in front of him was to help him focus and meditate, the other two were for balance. He tried not to think about how his ceremonial robes needed a washing, and how they were causing him to itch. He had to resist the urge to shift his position after sitting that way for such a long time. _CONCENTRATE!_ he yelled at himself. _If I want to find her, I must concentrate._   
    His eyes blinked shut as he tried to dash away all of his stray thoughts. Trowa opened them slowly, but just enough so that he could stare blankly at the candle before him through slits. _There._ Now that he was focused, he pictured Catherine in his mind. In the last vision he got of her she was wearing a South Republic standardized uniform and heading west through the Southern Republic to eventually travel north into the mountains. Therefore, he pictured her that way.   
    She was long and rather tall, like he was, and she had wavy, almost curly mahogany hair. Her eyes were a dull blue- _they didn't used to be dull,_ he thought, _not before she- Stop it! Don't think about it, concentrate!_ Dull blue eyes and a slight frown, because Cathy was a lady of extremes. She was either smiling broadly, or frowning, very angry, or very relieved, and he missed that, he missed his sister.   
    _Steady…_ Now that he had formed the picture in his mind he felt his mind being drawn somewhere. The magic he was using would actually do that. You separated your body and your mind, and your mind was taken to what you were searching for, so that in a way, you could see it. He could no longer feel the ground he was sitting on, or the ache in his back from sitting cross legged and very straight, he didn't need to concentrate on his breathing anymore and most of all, he could no longer see the flame. First, everything went dark, as if he was blind- but he didn't panic, if he panicked he would loose his trance. Then everything came to him at first very blurry and shadowed, then lighter until he could make out objects and people.   
    Catherine was walking up a road, a slight hill. She was at the base of the Poleguard Mountains. She was wearing a very heavy travel pack and trudging slowly in the sun. Trowa willed himself to look around, the road was well traveled, one of the main ones, and there were several other people on it from distances away. It was wide and the first mountain he could see at her pace was a day's walk. Relief flooded him when he saw that although she looked wary of carrying her gear, Catherine didn't look troubled. She still had a perpetual frown on her face, and her shoulders were squared to let people know not to bother her, but that was nothing new and no longer startled Trowa.   
    "TROWA! I SAID: 'HALF TO SHOW TIME!'" Abruptly Trowa was pulled away from what he was observing, the blindness last only a second as his mind was pulled like stretched rubber back into his body. He jumped a little, opened his eyes, and lifted his head to see the master of the house's daughter: Charla.   
     She was much shorter than him, just like any dwarf, with clay colored hair and round, light brown eyes. By dwarf standards she was very attractive, plump, voluptuous, well made up, and wearing something mildly revealing: her costume for the show. From his position on the floor she was slightly taller than him.   
    "You've got half," she repeated, this time in a more civilized tone. Her voice was rough and pebbly, with a laconic and sharp accent, but all around it was interesting and pleasant to hear. However nice it was, Trowa nodded in acceptance so that she would go away. With a smirk she did, closing his heavy wooden door behind her with ease and uncanny strength for her size.   
    Trowa sighed internally and looked at his candles, he hadn't thought that the meditation would take a bit more than half a candlemark* to begin with. It wasn't that he was pressed for time or anything; half was plenty of time to change and get some water. At least now he could perform with a lighter heart. The fact that Cathy was using a main road showed that she felt safe, if her bag was still heavy enough to weigh her down that meant that she had plenty of supplies to last her the trip and she wasn't in a hurry- meaning she wasn't in trouble.   
    Her gloomy demeanor was something he had gotten used to seeing. Her eyes were always dull from the first time he saw her after she was taken. Ever since her rescue from slavery she had become much harder and threatening. She imposed a very intimidating display to the world to keep everyone away from her. It worked, as far as he could tell; no one bothered her on the road. She didn't physically threaten anyone with the knife she openly carried, and he had seen her take much less used roads. She avoided large groups of settled people and carts, and caravans scared her terribly.   
  


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* _Candlemark_- the time it takes for a candle to burn down- bout an hour.   
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    Trowa kept his thoughts to himself and himself alone as he lifted the candles off the floor and put them back in their holders in the wall. The architecture in his room, and every other room, was beautiful. The whole complex was built in the inside of a mountain and carved in a way to hollow the mountain from the inside, as well as making sure the mountain had enough support to take the pressure increase on the dome. Arches were uses everywhere, especially for windows in the main dome. It was too hard to light the huge dome of the complex with candles without using magic; so large vertically narrow arches were built into the walls of the dome where the mountain's layers were thinnest in a way to catch the light through all of the day. Even at noon the angle of the windows allowed light in. Trowa liked his room in particular. It had no windows, like all the other rooms for the residents of the complex, but candleholders were built out of the walls of the round room. There were six, each connected to another on the opposite side of the room along yet another, highly decorated arch that had carvings in it. When he lie in his bed and look at the ceiling it gave the overview of a large star. In the dining room he noticed it was the same only where all the arches met there was a large chandelier holding candles for more light made out of light colored wood.   
    Dwarves made the most out of their resources, and Trowa lived with a dwarf family rich enough to own the small mountain, and rich enough to get the whole complex elaborately decorated. Besides being a place where shows with magic, animals, and comedy were held everyday, the complex doubled as a hotel, and one of the finest in the Dwarven City of Neo-Char*   
    There was a night entertainment room, where Trowa spent his nights playing music for the dances. The room was magnificently built, and with much insight. Half of it was inside the mountain and the other half was made with glass, prisms and some jewels. Light at any time in the day lit the room up brilliantly, and prisms made different colors dance along the floor as well. At night the mirrors on the mountainous side, above the doors, reflected the light from the candles very well, as well as the prisms and the light from the moon and the stars. Trowa thought it was most beautiful at night, when the prism lights just glowed faintly enough that the dancers would be hit with colorful beams as they swept across the floor, and then disappear once again into the dim light to make fantastic silhouettes and shadow the floor at many different angles. The band that Trowa played with was also on the mountainous side, and so he had an inspiring view of the stars and nocturnal nature as he played.   
    Another dazzling room was the outdoor restaurant with the waterfall on the other side of the mountain. The water eventually fell into a dwarven made marble pool and by a complicated system of dugout pipes there were also fountains on either side of the waterfall carved out of mountain and a marble fountain carved in the shape of an erupting volcano with surrounding flora and seemingly balanced on large carvings of rocks that managed to look as if they had grown from the earth.   
  


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*_Neo-Char D. C._- the first _Char_ was destroyed during the War of All.   
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    Trowa was glad that he had ended up staying with these dwarves. All things that dwarves made were connected with nature. Mostly, though, he loved the animals.   
    Trowa kept his unseemly residence there by working for the dwarves in many different ways. He performed magic tricks in the day, played for the band at night, and on his free time, he spent that with the animals. Dwarves loved all things nature, all things created by Khana, their goddess of creation. In that way, although they wouldn't admit it, they were like Elves. Their love of nature included animals, and so they combined their two greatest loves: nature, and money, and decided that since all dwarves loved seeing animals in their element, they would gather animals from all different places, build homes for them that resembled their respective elements, and charge others to come and see them.   
    The animals usually didn't mind after the initial shock, sometimes they did. They were by no means treated badly. Dwarves were afraid to upset Khana if they mistreated her creatures, or the balance she had created in nature. Other than that, Dwarves didn't _want_ to mistreat the animals; they adored animals profusely. The animals had their own areas to prowl, roam, eat and run around. They were, of course, closed off from the audiences (being mostly dwarves- which most predators would eat given half the chance) but the animals didn't need to be in cages. It was one of the reasons that Dwarves let him go into the cages at will. The animals were well fed of course, so when a human went into the territory of a predator he had less chance of getting eaten than… oh, let's say… a dwarf.   
    Trowa loved to take care of the animals anyway, but dwarves, seeing money as one of the most important things in life, couldn't think any less than to pay him for changing the animals' water, letting food loose for them and making sure they were healthy. The animals had gotten to know him well enough to let him be around them and observe them, another thing he did for pleasure. He took books worth of notes on the animals that passed in and out of the complex and hoped to do something with them one day, after his sister returned.   
    The war had interfered with that plan, and as his mentor had once told him: As a wizard you will feel the need to use your powers to help those around you, so don't expect your own personal peace during war time. Trowa didn't need much convincing after what had happened to his sister. He only postponed his plans to include _after the war is over_, and prepared.   
    Lately Trowa had been having visions of some unknown weapon when he 'free-tranced'. He would go into a trance and let his mind be drawn to whatever needed his attention, and when it wasn't his sister, which it often was, there were visions of the mountains not far from the complex. Each time the visions zoomed in a little closer to what he was supposed to see, and Trowa could force it but he wasn't sure what the best thing to do was.   
    _Perhaps_, he thought, _It would be best if I do try to avoid the war…_ Cathy should be there in the matter of a couple of months, and revealing himself as a half-trained wizard was a dangerous thing to do anyway. Still, his human desire for safety was overcome by his belief in protecting those that he cared for, fighting for what he was taught as a wizard, fighting for the beliefs his late mentor had held, and kicking slavery's ass.   
    If anything could visibly make him angry it was slavery. The idea alone was revolting in itself to him, but the concept and the actions following the spread of Zodiac were absolutely **intolerable** after what happened to his sister. The thought that most rang out in his head was that he couldn't be there for her then, when she had needed him, but he sure as Nata wouldn't let even the _possibility_ of something happening to her again.   
    However, yet another thing stopped him from running off the join the war. Catherine. The war would surely have started by the time Cathy arrived at the complex, and he really didn't think he was so eager to rush off to his death right after they were reunited. Not only that, but he'd either have to make the long trek she was currently about to make through the Poleguard Mountains south, or a long trek west through unfriendly lands.   
    By now Trowa had undressed himself out of his ceremonial garbs and into his mock wizardry garbs. Whereas his real ceremonial robes (the ones that needed washing) were made of heavy silk in dark green hues and embroidered designs the colors of his eyes with weavings of golden thread that made a fine drapery over the length of his tall body to the ground, his show costume was much more flashy, with sequins, dark rich purples and oranges that created a light top vest and large baggy pants that flared out to catch attention. Whereas his ceremonial robes latched with a single elongated button in the front on his bare chest that allowed both sides to flare out comfortably and drop into a proper circle when he was meditating, his other costume was made for the wear and tear that every performer went through; it was easily washable and allowed him to do tricks such as the flips that all dwarves liked to see so much, being unable to perform such feats themselves. The sleek, light pants that fit loosely to go under his robes were definitely preferable to his balloon pants, and honestly, the mask and hood he was required to wear for the shows made it more difficult to call up spells.   
    A bit reluctantly, he donned the mask and dwarven hood, which made him look very mysterious, if not a bit ridiculous. For those that knew him in the ring there were many familiar cheers, and then there were the unfamiliar cheers of those that had heard of him. He bowed as the show started with the rest of the performers and took his seat on his platform, trying to look mysterious.   
    Kassie, one of the owner's daughters and Charla's twin, started off the show with a warriors display of weaponry and skill. To dwarves it was an art form. She sparred with Oudo, in an elaborate display of flowery impressive moves that got the crowd's blood pumping. Charla was next with rope-dancing. Since dwarves lived in the mountains and liked architecture etc., rope climbing was required for most homebuilders, explorers, and map-writers to know. Dwarves did live in caves, but sometimes it was required to build higher up into the mountain rather than to dig underneath. Charla had created an exotic sort of dance done with the use of two suspended ropes, much swinging and turning upside down with flashy, shimmering lights.   
    The trained animals were brought out by Marblo and trotted around the ring, some were touchable by the crowd, but the tiger and leopardess were kept within an inward circle. Trowa was amused at how they seemed to grin at him as he passed by. He suppressed a grin back, for his half mask was sad looking, white with a tear down it's respective eye and a frowning face. Mysterious wizards didn't give themselves away as normal human beings by doing something such as grinning.   
    That, he speculated with dry humour, was exactly how it was. A wizard could be any human at all with a good memory, dedication, and a mentor. Good wizards did have a bit of mage ability, as Trowa did, and that fueled their wish to learn wizardry. There used to be a school of wizardry, but nowadays magic was frowned upon, persecuted against even. Trowa's mentor: Trowa Barton (from whom he obviously got his name), taught Trowa all the wizardry that Trowa the younger knew. He had rescued Trowa and Cathy from persecution in the northeast and began a long trek west with them. On the way, Cathy had been taken from them and brought back to the capital of Zodiac- somewhere Trowa Barton could not afford to go, it was an impermeable fortress against magic users and there was no hope for rescue.   
    Trowa Barton forced the then nameless boy on westward with promises of sanctuary with dwarves. All Trowa could on the trek there; he passed on to the nameless boy, expecting him to be his new successor. Wizardry was just a bunch of spells that worked if done correctly with enough concentration. Trowa Barton secured a place for Trowa at the complex, passed on his wizardry books, passed on his name, and left to attend to 'important business'. Trowa was contacted through several trances with his mentor to further his training and know where his mentor was but all of a sudden the messages stopped, and the worst had to be assumed, that the former Trowa Barton was dead. Trowa was allowed then to take his last name: Barton, and taught himself all he could. He was still not a master, but he was good, and when he finally found and memorized the spell to search for his sister, that was enough to sustain him from loneliness for a bit longer.   
    Unfortunately, he still had not mastered the spell to contact her, or mindlink with her, and it wasn't in the books. Once, in his desperation and horror at what happened to his sister while she was in slavery he was able to sustain a mindlink long enough to mindsend to her where he was, and had trusted her to get there. Now all he could do was watch as she inched toward him.   
    "Trowa Barton!" The owner and ringmaster called out to the audience, who erupted in cheer.   
    Trowa snapped out of his thoughts and stoop up. Not only was he a wizard, after his wizardry tricks he was to take off the hood and perform as an acrobat (it was his best, and most known for, spell).   
    It was actually rather hard to think up all the fantastic and showy movements he made that were completely useless, and work them around the moves he actually needed to make to do something. For example, he usually started out with levitation. All that the spell needed was a simple upwards gesture through the center of the object that was being levitated with one finger. He called out many unneeded things and whirled his cape around and rolled his eyes at his own behavior (which the audience thankfully couldn't see), then made a large sweeping upwards gesture, and a less noticeable and completely overshadowed smaller one. He was lifted off the ground so that if he stretched his toes out, they were still finger lengths from the ground. Then, he would fold his legs crossed underneath himself and begin to move around the room with a murmured moving spell, added a rotating spell, and soon he was like a slow moving child's ball, spinning upside down and around.   
    With a flourish he would right himself and throw back his hood, with girls in the crowd marveling in whispers at his handsome face, and throw his arms out for a dramatic pause. That was the time where girl dwarves would bat their eyelashes and such. Trowa would have been quite popular if he hadn't been a giant among ants, and everyone knew that giants and ants didn't mate. However, Trowa made a point to stretch his body out to it's tallest, and stretch out his arms not only to appear even larger, but also so that he could aim for his next trick. He yelled out a "spell", and then murmured the actual spell, and lights flashed out of his ten fingers, exploding in different colors at the two sides of the ring in a circle around him. The whole cavern was lit and colors reflected and shimmered off of his costume in a grand finale that left the audience ooh-ing and ah-ing.   
    The magic part of his work was done, for most spells used for moneymaking and entertainment reasons were forbidden. Trowa let go of the levitation spell temporarily and dropped straight down like a falling arrow, plunging towards his doom. Quickly he performed a lightening spell, and a bouncing spell. When he hit the ground he bent his knees to absorb impact and used his coiled position to spring into a somersaulting flip, head over heals. He didn't stop, but kept the spell going and never fully landed, but instead went from one impressive jump to another. When he finally grounded on his hands, he used his momentum to do several handsprings and a landing jump. Applause erupted from the seats and bubbled in vibrations through the ground so that Trowa felt it rumble in his chest with a faint sense of accomplishment that had settled there. As his eyes scanned the crowd and children's smiling faces, he couldn't help but think two things.   
    One was that he hoped he and Catherine could settle and that he would never ever have to become a warrior, so that he could be a source of pleasure to everyone, and always bring a smile to children's faces.   
    Two was that he would do anything, including becoming a warrior, to keep children smiling and to do what was right.   
  
  
  
  
  


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Perhaps now I can return to my original plot, although in the long run this chapter came in handy. Back to Quatre and Claudine! Mwaha!   
-MJb- emails/reviews are nice ^.^ 


	16. A Warped Battle for 'Peace'.

  
    I know that it's been a while, sorry. But the length of this chapter, the quality of writing and the cool action sequences should make up for it ^.^ The chapter is 14 pages long, and I hope you like battles and action, because here's a taste of how I write them.   
  
    Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or Claudine, even though I doubt she'd sue me.   
  
  
Dragon Wars   
  


****=Dwarven Lands  
$$$$=Zodiac Kingdom   
~~~~=Water  
____=Lands unspecified (not just the Mid-states)  
X=a small town that was named Sildu...  
  
  
*******^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Northern Kingdom^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
***P***^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
**o**********_________@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
**l****M*******____@@@@@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**e*****t********__@@Sanc Kingdom@@^^^^^^^^^~ ~ ~ ~   
**g****s**********___@___o-f _ o-l-d_ @^^^^^^^$$$$$$$$$$  
**u*****************________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
**a******************________Cuatrica_X________$$$$$$$$$$  
**r*********__________________Lispar_Doomak $$$$$$$$$$  
**d******________________________________$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
******_______________Mid-states___________$$$$$$$$$$$$  
***________________________________________$$$$$$$$  
**&________________________________________ $$$$$$$  
*&&&&&______________________________________$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&_________________________Shorchiff $$$$$$  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&-----------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&----------------South Republic---------------  
&&&Nymph Woods&&---------------------------------------------  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&------------------------------------------  
  


  
Chapter 16: A Warped Battle for 'Peace'.   
  
  
  
_________________________-RECAP-________________________

  
    The messenger face faulted, but the effect didn't last long, "… BUT did you know that there is a large fight breaking out on the east end of town? There will be blood in the streets soon-"   
    "What?!" Quatre grabbed the boy's shirt.   
    "There are some that want to support you, and some who want to support Zodiac, and soon they will all kill each other-"   
    Quatre felt his heart chill. Everything he had grown up thinking his town to be was a lie. Everything was a lie. The Cuatricans Quatre knew would never try to murder each other in the streets. Why was the world turning upside down all the time?!   
    Claudine's eyes had widened but she wasted no time. "C'mon! We have to stop this at once!" Quatre snapped out of his shock and followed her disappearing form down the streets.   


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    Quatre had been training for quite a long time, he was probably in the best shape of his life, and he was thanking Nata for it right about then because he planned on running across town on foot without stopping. He was already breathing heavily through his mouth as he watched Claudine through lidded eyes kicking up sand in front of him. She was in better shape than he was, and she was half-elf, so he was the one struggling to keep up.   
    They saw no signs of a fight until they were close enough to the edge of town to see the gate. There was another market square over there, with some free space, and as they ran up a bridge that would get them over a road and into the square they were able to see above the crowd, and get an idea of what was going on.   
    Claudine halted at the peak of the bridge and Quatre was not far behind her. There were two distinct sides to the non-existent brawl-to-be. People had picked up weapons from whatever they could find. Many were pathetic slabs of wood of tree limbs; some were tools, knives or throwable objects. There was an array of gardening tools, pottery and other glass objects, and kitchen knives of all kinds. Within minutes a square full of products for selling and buying had become an arsenal for the public.   
    Something in Quatre's stomach sunk. He had thought that his people were helpless; they hated weapons, would refuse to fight, and stood no chance against their surrounding countries without the help of the Southern Republic. He was being proven wrong here and now.   
    Claudine's mind was thinking much differently; she was a bit surprised at the town's willingness to fight, but not that much. She knew that when backing into a corner people were willing to go to great lengths to save themselves. What she was feeling now was not dread, betrayal or pride, like Quatre, but a glimmer of hope, opportunity, and determination. If they could get the fight to start, they could use this mob, so willing to help, as soldiers to hold the town until the Dragon was safe.   
    At that time Quatre tried to bolt downstairs, run into the middle of the fight, and stop his people from killing each other. Two steps into his plan and Claudine grabbed the hood of his cloak, catching and choking him effectively. She pulled him back to watch the crowd with her and stifled his protests mercilessly. "Listen, we should watch the crowd and see exactly what this is about! Stop struggling!" she whisper-yelled. Quatre calmed and let her continue with no small amount of impatience. "They aren't fighting yet, you see?" Quatre looked down and saw that they were only throwing threats and arguments at each other. She grabbed his face and turned it back to her, "This can be of use to us when we know what's going on."   
    Something inside Quatre wanted to yell at her for delaying him, or be angry because she was using his people to her advantage. He frowned, but stood where he was. His friendship wasn't so weak with her, nor his trust so shallow that he would not consider her the clear headed advisor in this situation.   
    They leaned over the railing, to listen to the railing of the people below.   
    "How can you believe that we will win against the Zodiac Kingdom? Look at you! You carry sticks as weapons. The Zodiac Kingdom is too powerful!" Quatre growled at this like many of the people on the right side of the square.   
    "It is better to hold the town for as long as we can than give into the evil demands of the Zodiac Kingdom that we have condemned for so long." The aforementioned man with a stick called back, there were shouts of agreement and boos from either side.   
    "Don't you speak about beliefs. If this country still upheld Yuy's beliefs you wouldn't be holding those weapons! At least we are honest about giving up on peace. We want to survive this war, and the only way that's possible is by allying with the Zodiac!"   
    "The Zodiac will only use us to fight more of their wars, we might as well fight our own war!"   
    "It wouldn't be a war, it would be slaughter!!! Declaring war on Zodiac is like asking for a three front war. We have no hope of winning!" Now the crowd hustled with many doubtful whispers. The man continued, "Do you want to throw away your lives?!"   
    A little girl (relatively, she was probably only thirteen years of age) stepped forward and started yelling loudly and desperately enough to be heard. "It's not throwing away our lives!! I still follow the Yuy code! The Yuy code was never designed for making peace when we're surrounded on three sides and have no choice but to fight. Three allied sides at least. Its true that we can't hold off against Zodiac, Lispar, and the Northern Kingdom, but if Yuy were alive, he would tell us not to give into Zodiac, they're evil! He would say to fight to the death rather than to give up!" There were loud shouts of agreement from all around, even Quatre gave a cheer for the girl. Claudine unnoticeably became thoughtful.   
    "That's debatable of you to assume, youngling!" yelled an elder, "chances are that the Yuy code would want us to give in to save the lives of our people. The Yuy code says to avoid war at all costs, and seek peace through peace."   
    "It doesn't matter!" yelled another, "They would only use us anyway!" The yelling continued in circles from there, and soon Claudine tapped Quatre's shoulder, who was still listening.   
    "What?" Quatre barely turned, he was still absorbed in the arguments that were going nowhere.   
    "Where is Lispar?" Claudine had seen the uselessness in arguing further, and knew that as soon as everyone else realized they weren't getting anywhere they would begin to fight.   
    "Huh? Why does that matter?"   
    "Just answer, we don't have much time before they stop arguing and start fighting!"   
    "It doesn't matter, they're right, we can't fight a three sided war-"   
    "Quatre!" Claudine cut him off with an urgent shake, "Stop mimicking them! Where is Lispar?"   
    Quatre gave in, but narrowed his eyes before answering, "It's directly to the southeast."   
    Claudine mumbled to herself, "So then, our only escape would be southwest…"   
    "What?" Quatre was trying to listen to the arguments again, and was also half-listening to Claudine's murmurs.   
    Claudine ignored him like she would any one of the locals and continued talking to herself, "I need to know if they have Sildu… then get a map and look for our nearest allies. Oh man… but this crowd is about to start fighting, I'll have to bullshit it."   
    "What?" Quatre again.   
    "C'mon, we're going to stop that crowd, and reveal ourselves for what we truly are!" She grabbed Quatre's cloak, shoved it over his head, and dragged the blinded boy down off the bridge behind her.   
  


__________________________Recap____________________________

  
    Wufei, after dwelling of the images burned into his memory and tuning over his hate, finally spoke up.   
    "We met someone on the lower level."   
    For once he was met with silence, "He was trapped, but he insisted that we hurry on ahead of the army to warn Cuatrica that the army is coming." Silence still. "He also mentioned, that we should save the dragon."   
    Sally shifted onto her side and looked at Wufei. She had tears in her eyes, "Will you go?"   
    Wufei blinked, there was not a doubt in his mind when he answered, "Yes." 

_____________________________________________________________

  
  
    Wufei sighed and decided that if the resistance leader didn't meet him in the street, walk up to him and say "I am a resistance leader, tell me your urgent news!" he was going to first find an inn, then he was going to bath for a couple of hours, and then sleep for several more hours. His eyes were at the point where they would not fully open, every muscle felt like lead, and what he could see was blurring together.   
    Out of the three companions he was worst off since he didn't have a horse. For the first half of the day when they set off, Mei Ran and him had rode on the horse with Sally, but after a while the horse and its unfamiliar and cramped riders needed a break. Besides, they had by then passed Zodiac's army and were safe to walk for a couple of miles. They had then ridden some more, until nightfall, collapsed, gotten up much too early for human convenience, and continued the rest of the way at a fast walk. They had only stopped all those hours for bodily functions like sleep and relief. They had eaten on the road, uncooked food. Wufei hadn't been able to change his clothes, thoroughly filthy and still containing the smell of burnt flesh, or wash in three days time, and he was exhausted.   
    They had arrived at the gates of the town on the east side and were filled with hope. All of the companions felt just as tired and sticky as Wufei and were willing to call it a day, even if it was mid noon.   
    Unfortunately, the gates were closed. Wufei looked skeptically at Mei Ran and asked slightly crestfallen, "Is this it?" He couldn't bring his tired body to be anything more than laconic.   
    Both Mei Ran and Sally read the sign and nodded. Wufei didn't like it, but he couldn't read the letters, or talk to the guard outside the closed gates, and neither could Mei Ran even though she had the ability to. So it was up to Sally, who trotted forward. Mei Ran translated tiredly and automatically.   
    "Excuse me, why are the gates closed? Its midday… is the city quarantined?"   
    The guard smiled, "You may not believe this, but it's worse than that. There's fighting in the streets. No one wants to go in there, believe me."   
    Sally tilted her head, "Why wouldn't I believe that? Usually that's no reason to shut the gates…"   
    "Ma'am, this is Cuatrica."   
    "Yes, we know."   
    "Wow, you really are foreign, aren't you?" The man's smile faded as he got glares from the three companions. "Cuatrica hasn't had fighting in the streets for… over thirty years, not civil fighting anyhow."     "Civil?"   
    "Y'know, Cuatricans against Cuatricans. Soon it will rain livestock and worms will fly." He smiled at his own cleverness. 'Worms will fly' was not only an idiomatic expression for improbability, but also an old expression from the War of All for digging graves, meaning death was coming when 'worms will fly'.   
    "We still need to enter, civil brawl or no," Wufei supplied from behind Sally. _Soon,_ he told himself, _Soon I'll have this damn language figured out!_   
    Sally translated for him, and they exchanged arguments back and forth until the guard let them in "at their own risk", and made them promise not to tell anyone he did so.   
    Mei Ran pondered on Wufei's shoulder, "I wonder what they're fighting about?"   
    "Who cares?" Wufei murmured as he looked around for an inn, he didn't like the foggy feeling his mind had when he lacked sleep.   
    "We might, if the resistance is involved." With that, Mei Ran yawned.   
    That made Wufei stop short and Mei Ran tumbled off of his shoulder. He suppressed a groan as he realized that they had to check out the fight.   
  
    Claudine rolled her eyes as she pushed another group apart and fended off a couple of blows that she got as a reward. She was through shouting at the top of her lungs for everyone to stop fighting and listen to her; no one was going to. Quatre, the poor boy, was still hoping to stop them and solve this all peacefully. Claudine could see how much it bothered him to see his fellow countrymen fighting each other. This was nothing like the Cuatrica that he had grown up in. She cringed as he was thrown into a mud puddle and promptly ignored. His heavy cloak was momentarily keeping him stuck to the ground, but Claudine couldn't help him, she had problems of her own.   
    One man swung a large axe down on another and missed marginally right before the other prepared to plunge a sharp stick through him. Claudine kicked the stick, and it broke, and then caught the guy in the head with her fist. She then swung around and chopped off the handle to the axe with her sword. Her motto was, if she destroyed their weapons, they couldn't fight. She only stayed long enough to resheath her sword and moved on to the next couple, not having time to realize that the two she had just separated were going at it by hand.   
    The fights were steadily getting more dangerous; both sides were getting braver, and more used to holding weapons. Someone bumped into Claudine on his way past her. She just continued walking past the people who were fighting to her left, and threw herself into the large woman that was choking a man she sat on. The man coughed thankfully and the woman glared at her.   
    Claudine's battle senses perked up just in time for her to sidestep the heavy frying pan that clunked into the ground next to her. Her opponent raised it and tried attacking her from the side with the flat part of the pan. Just as quickly she reached for her sword to block- and found nothing. Nothing was broken when the frying pan connected, but she would have a large ugly bruise for a while and it did sting a lot. Not to mention that when he came down for another blow that would have hit her collarbone, her arm hurt like hell when she reached out and grabbed a sword that materialized in midair. The frying pan was blocked effectively, and Claudine gave him a nice hard kick in the chest, which he would not be recovering from for a couple of minutes.   
    She couldn't let go of her elven rapier because, she thought angrily to herself, she let her normal sword get stolen when that person bumped into her, and she hadn't noticed. She continued chiding herself as she separated more fighters with her long, sharp, and elaborately decorated blade until she bumped backward into a stranger, who, for once, did not turn around and start attacking her.   
  
    "Someone's trying to separate them from fighting… wait, no, there's two people!" Mei Ran pointed.   
    "Great, two versus one hundred," Wufei murmured fatalistically.   
    "Now they're splitting up," Mei Ran reported.   
    Sally patted Wufei on the back, "So let's make it four to one hundred, let's split up as well and help them." She took off running down the left side of the bridge. Without hesitation Wufei grabbed Mei Ran and ran in the opposite direction.   
    They had reached the bridge two sentences before the fighting broke out. Those two sentences were enough to figure out that the two sides were pro-Zodiac, and anti-Zodiac. Before the swarm of battle consumed them, there had also been a couple of people shouting that everyone should join forces and defend their country against Zodiac. It was clear that no one was going to listen to that idea unless the fighting was stopped, and their party would not be able to inform anyone of the approaching army if the fighting was not stopped. So, Wufei, Mei Ran, and Sally had agreed to stop the fighting, and there they were, in the midst of a huge crowd of people trying to kill each other.   
    "Look out!" Mei Ran shouted.   
    "I know!" Wufei shouted as he blocked an attack and pushed the offender back. Mei Ran screamed another warning about something Wufei had already seen and cheered him on from his shoulder in the midst of battle. Then she would point out which people Wufei should help first. "Mei Ran, shut up!"   
    "I'm just trying to be helpful, my eyesight is much better than yours, and I can fly above the crowd- look over there! Those two are fighting!"   
    Wufei snorted with indignation, "They're _all_ fighting, Mei Ran!"   
    "Nata!" Wufei ignored her exclamation of surprise. "Wufei, Wufei, go to your right!"   
    "No."   
    "I'm not kidding, I just saw the girl we're looking for," Wufei hesitated, "and she just pulled a sword out of thin air!" Wufei turned right. He had to listen to her directions because, although before they all disappeared into the crowd from the bridge he got one look of the direction he was supposed to go, his target was moving, and being able to see someone from the bridge was easy, once inside the crowd it was impossible.   
    His progress was slow because he kept having to fight people off, or stop them from fighting, and Mei Ran actually was very helpful… most of the time.   
    "Wufei behind you!"   
    "I can't turn around right now, if you haven't noticed, I'm fighting someone." Wufei blocked a large stick and punched his opponent in the face. He tried to turn around but was bumped into by a mass of people fighting each other without weapons. He started to pull them apart. Wufei sheathed his sword to prevent from killing them as they turned to him and two started attacking at once. Martial Arts just happened to be something else Wufei was good at. He was able to block with one leg, and meanwhile hook an arm around the other guy's neck to twist him to the ground. Then he gave the other guy a triple punch, to the head, the chest and the gut. He fell to the ground afterwards.   
    "Behind you!"   
    "Shut up!"   
    Someone knocked into Wufei from behind and made him stumble. Before he could strike out he realized it was the person he had been looking for.   
    The girl held a long rapier that had elfish designs on it and an extremely expensive looking, detailed hilt. He didn't have time to be too impressed with it though. She took on a precariously quick battle stance but did not attack. "Who're you?"   
    There was a pause between the two as Wufei tried to match the sounds with a meaning. He didn't know how to establish his real purpose in trade language, so he ended up saying, "Wufei."   
    "Omae no baka, "Mei Ran supplied not very helpfully.   
    "Well, what am I supposed to say, Mei Ran? I don't speak her language!" he said angrily to the fairy flitting above his shoulder.   
    Claudine looked worriedly into the empty space that he was talking to, and then back at the angry foreigner. "Riiiiight…" She took a step back and dodged another couple of people fighting.   
    "Matte!" Wufei yelled loudly enough to stop her, even if she did so without knowing 'matte' meant 'wait'. He ran up beside her and gave her a meaningful look before trying to pry the two fighting people apart. Claudine watched with surprise and approval and decided that even if they couldn't understand each other… they could understand each other.   
  
    Quatre blinked and rubbed mud out of his eyes. His struggling in the pile of mud was a mistake; his cloak had only become more tangled and more soaked, making it even heavier. When he had finally stood up he had to take it off, and hope that he wasn't recognized.   
    Claudine had separated from him, and that was okay. He needed to calm down though. Falling into that bat of mud had made his adrenalin rise and now he felt as if he was in a totally different place, this place, with the fighting and battle cries, the beating and the struggles, this place was not the place that he grew up in. He found himself unable to move, all he could do was stand there and try to register that what was around him was reality.   
    A couple of fighters blurred past him and almost pushed him back down into the mud. That action finally shook him back into where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. "Stop!" he yelled, going after the two who had just brushed by him. "This is pointless! Listen to me! Stop!!" He separated them with his bare hands and tried to talk to them but they would only try to attack him in return. No one would listen to what he had to say, no one would listen to his pleas. People that knew him wouldn't even listen to him. There were boys he saw that he had grown up with, and none of them seemed to recognize him, whether it was because of the mud, or the battle rage.   
    Quatre soon discovered that yelling his lungs out wouldn't help and he had to use his weapon to separate people. His bow was too long range for the melee, and he was afraid to use his rapier because it might break against the many strange makeshift weapons. He wasn't very good at broad sword, and it was too late for him to find one anyway. At first he tried to pry people apart with his bare hands, but soon he found that that was a useless technique when the person he was up against had a knife or other dangerous weapon. Various scratches, cuts, bruises and gashes later he decided to seek something out. The only other weapon he had become fair with was a sickle, he just needed to find one.   
    _There's got to be some random sickle in this peace loving city in the middle of a brawl in the middle of a square for no apparent reason, hasn't there?_ he asked himself sarcastically.   
    Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Quatre should have been paying attention to those around him rather than looking for a weapon, but he wasn't. A large man with a rake attacked him from behind and barely missed his left arm. Quatre gave a cry of surprise, jumped to the right, got hit in the head with something hard and metal, and went crashing into a nearby stand.   
    _Well, my first battle's not going too well, is it?_ He held his head and tried to look around when he saw a rake come crashing down. Quatre threw up his hands in a weak block and found that the rake seemed to catch on something above him and bounce off. Tentatively Quatre opened his eyes and saw nothing in front of him. As he sat up painfully amidst the fallen stand, sheets and broken wood, he saw his attacker lying on the ground opposite from him. Briefly he wondered what had happened, and then disregarded it as unimportant. The assailant was starting to sit up, and Quatre was still weaponless. He looked around and noticed that when he fell into the stand and pulverized it, he had shaken the front support pole loose from the top and caused the part stuck in the ground to break off. This ended in him having an effective weapon to block against the oncoming rake.   
    Staff fighting never was his favorite practice with Claudine, especially since she seemed to excel in it. He liked weapons that were always pointed away from yourself, and things with only one end to worry about. He did train with Claudine with staffs though, and Claudine was a good teacher, so three touches later he had gotten rid of the nuisance that had attacked him, and now he had a staff.   
    Not too much later he came across a foreigner who was fighting off another woman in the place of a wounded teen on the ground. The amount of wounded had been increasing, and Quatre would have joined their ranks if he hadn't have found a staff. He was limping slightly now and staggered over to help separate the two women. Surprisingly the foreign woman thanked him and turned back to the boy on the floor to treat his wound. Before he could inquire Quatre pushed back the offending woman and sat momentarily to gain his breath, and to talk to the newcomer.   
    "Who are you? I've lived here all my life and you've never been here before." Unconsciously Quatre's hand went to his leg to stop the bleeding.   
    "You're hurt, I'll treat you after this is over." Sally wasn't really paying attention to what he was asking her, and thought that he had requested help.   
    "Its not important now, what are you doing here?"   
    Sally finally heard half of what he was saying, "Oh, I'm here to bring news to someone, but when I got here there was a battle going on. What's this about, anyway?"   
    "The Zodiac is coming to invade our lands, some people think that we'd be better off that way, and others want to fight for independence. Fo-" Quatre squinted and held back from calling anyone a fool, especially if that person was a doctor.   
    "You can say it, 'fools', and which fool are you with?" Sally tightened her makeshift bandage and looked around for more people to separate or help.   
    Quatre looked around at the 'fools' and tried to put it in the best words that he didn't want to be with any of them. "You could say I'm completely opposed to Zodiac, and willing to fight, but I'm not with any of them. My interest as a civilian is limited…" He saddened to say that.   
    Sally considered what she should say, or whether or not she should tell him her true purpose. By what he had said, he was a soldier of the S.R., but if he wasn't she would have to fight him… She shrugged, _I guess I'll just have to fight him then._ She lowered her voice so that only he could hear her, "I was sent here by the South Republic. What kind of fool am I?"   
    Quatre's eyes widened, and then he smiled, "A foolish ally. My name is Quatre; sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances." He held his hand out to shake.   
    "I'm Sally. So, are we the only two here trying to _stop_ the fighting?"   
    "No, there's also the leader of the underground here, Claudine. If you have important news than she's the one who should hear it."   
    Sally and Quatre stood, and Quatre started to try and look through the crowd for the way to go. "Is she short with dark skin?"   
    Quatre stopped looking around with surprise, "Uh, yes… why?"   
    "I saw her on my way down here, she's this way." With that they headed into the crowd once more.   
    They had been heading to their right for a couple of minutes (they had to keep stopping to separate fights on the way) when all of a sudden there was a large surge of people that flowed in the opposite direction that they were heading and carried the two away partially with them. Quatre and Sally finally broke free of the panicking people and pushed their way forward through the sea.   
    There was a small circle cleared at the heart of it all, some people stood still with their eyes fixated on its center, while still others rushed away. The fighting on a large part was still going on, which was probably why people were still fleeing. Quatre had a natural instinct to flee as well, when he saw the dead body. At least, the body looked dead, and people seemed to think so. The person was impaled through the chest, and had a large slash his gut. There was a pool of blood seeping into the ground around him, and he- the body- wasn't moving.   
    Quatre and Sally halted, Quatre couldn't bring himself to take a step forward, but Sally, being the doctor, only hesitated to confirm to the gasping crowd that the person was dead. It was ridiculous, somehow through numb shock Quatre knew that that is was ridiculous to fight to kill people, but when someone actually died to panic and be scared or disgusted. After all, if you were trying to kill someone it would be logical to expect him or her to die. But…   
     Quatre blinked hard to try and clear his mind and felt anger rise up in him at his own people's stupidity. He searched the crowd for the person who seemed to be the murderer, and then the crowd behind what he searched through that was still fighting. It suddenly occurred to him that everyone was too shocked to see that someone had been killed to go after the murderer and capture him or her. Murder in Cuatrica rarely happened, but was a crime punishable by life in prison. There was no death penalty in Cuatrica because by Heero Yuy's teaching 'Murder can never be corrected with more murder'.   
    _Well, if no one will go after him, I will!_ Quatre forced his legs to be mobile and ran through the circle seemingly unprovoked into the battle behind it. The wound was a sword wound, so it would probably be easy to recognize the murderer since none of the people had swords. It was hard to get through a crowd very quickly, especially a panicking one, so the person was probably in the vicinity. It did occur to Quatre that the culprit might have ran away with the panicking crowd, but then there would have been some more obvious panic when people recognized him and- Quatre spotted a short lanky boy carrying a sword and charged. He dropped his staff and pulled out his rapier. _If he's willing to kill, if he's willing to use a sword, then so will I._   
    The boy was hardly caught off guard by Quatre and the two exchanged blows fairly evenly. Quatre wondered where the boy had been trained, but wouldn't ask until the boy was captured. He definitely looked like he was not a native Cuatrican, and his willingness to kill that shown through his attack reinforced that belief. They locked swords, hilt to hilt, and pushed against each other. That was the first time that Quatre could notice the makings of the sword, because it was inches from his face.   
    Quatre almost lost ground when they broke apart because he noticed that the sword was of the same design, making, and type of the broadsword Claudine kept at her side. First a spark of anger and vengeance flared up at the thought that Claudine might be dead, but the flicker died down instantly. He could hear Claudine saying the words: always keep at least one good weapon on you for people to see, but hide all the others. Quatre smirked before attacking again and gaining the upper hand on his foe. Claudine had tons of hidden weapons, he remembered now! She had that dagger that she used when she'd met him, and the throwing knife, sometimes she carried sai, and there was the broadsword, her magickal abilities, and a few others he didn't know about.   
    He drove the smaller boy back and continued to force the boys hand to swing more outward with every force. When the boy was swinging wide enough he just brought the tip of his sword under the other's chin at a point where there was no hope for the boy if he moved.   
    A loud noise broke the tension, a noise that was recognizable as a scream, followed by many other screams. Quatre jerked with surprise and in that one moment he barely had enough time to dodge the sword than to even think about stopping the boy from running off into the crowd. There was a yelp behind him as the sword landed on someone's foot, possibly injuring it, and then there was a mad dash for the very effective and available sword on the ground. Quatre was thrown back and caught gracefully by Sally, who righted him and took almost no time to say, "The killings have spread, I have to try to do what I can." She ran off.   
    Quatre's mouth ran dry, but he reacted too slowly, "K-killing?" Just as the words left his mouth a clash sounded near him, to the back, and a woman fell on her stomach with several slashes on her back. Quatre panicked; this was too much for him. "Stop!" He turned and yelled at the crowd. "Stop it!!" he screamed desperately, and pulled at the nearest fighting duo. "Stop killing each other! Stop!" he pulled and thrust at opponents with every yell. "How can you let some foreign kid make you all murderers? That's what separates us from them! They murder, and we save, stop stop stop stop stop!" He was smacked in the head with the wooden handle of a broom and toppled over on his bad leg by another limp body.   
    Biting back a cry of pain he pushed the bleeding body off of him and tried to instantly harden himself to the sight, so as not to be made sick. He felt like the bodies around him were suffocating him, dead and alive. He could never have imagined his people's own ability to kill, but one fight led to another, one argument to a counter, one grudge to another… It was horrifying, and no one was fighting for anything productive, at this rate everyone would be dead before Zodiac got there.   
    "Don't you realize…" he started to himself, "that this is MADNESS?" Something in him erupted with feeling and power; it was like being able to finally express himself, like he could breathe again, and the madness was all being blown away. Wind magick coursed through his body instead of blood, and all of his negative energy flowed outward instead of their usual path inward.   
    When he could look up there was a circle of emptiness around him where people had been pushed away by the force of the wind. Many on the outskirts of the circle were sprawled across others, but few were injured. People looked at him in fear, as if he was unrecognizable, but still the same person that they had grown up with. He didn't know it, but his body glowed with magickal aura and his eyes had tinted silver with magick usage. Now that he had unleashed a serious burst of magick it felt like it was going to pull him with it, he had a tingling in his fingers that itched for him to use more of it, that wanted to be able to flow through him freely. The feeling put him on edge, and he looked around with tightly strung nerves.   
    "Now will you listen to me?" His peripheral vision caught something and he whipped around, "STOP FIGHTING!!" With an out thrown hand wind burst from his palm and ripped through the air to separate the two fighters by throwing them back in opposite directions.   
    The crowd within a twenty-foot radius of him was now almost completely silent, except for the scarcely audible whispers of startled speculations and observations of fear. Most common of them was the fearful accusation of, "M-mage!"   
  
    Mei Ran flitted above Wufei's head and came down with helpful news, "Sally! It's Sally! She's that way!" Wufei nodded.   
    Claudine felt a tap on her soldier and almost turned around swinging. It was Wufei, who, as always with her, said nothing but nodded in a direction towards a statue and started heading that way. Claudine gave a fight starter a punch for good measure and followed.   
    By the time they reached the statue there was mayhem at every corner and Sally had moved somewhere else. According to Mei Ran she was doing her best to heal people in the midst of battle. Wufei made a sound of disgust and didn't exactly voice to Mei Ran how ridiculous he thought it was of her, an already inexperienced fighter with her life on the line, to risk it further by stopping to help people in the middle of everything. He did bother to ask what the chaotic behavior was about.   
    "Wait," Mei Ran flew up and came back down panicked, "They've started to kill each other!! This is just like before! Wufei," her distressed face was serious and demanded his attention even if no one could see her, "Wufei, I don't want this to turn out like the last town, I don't want to have to give the dying water, or see anyone's… anyone's…" tears weren't in her eyes, but Wufei could sense her feelings, and for once, he agreed with her. For only a moment of an instant did he think of telling Claudine, but he dismissed the possibility because he couldn't speak to her, and ran off.   
    "Hey! Where are you going?" Claudine asked once she noticed that Wufei ran away. Of course he didn't even turn back and so she decided to get a look of her own as to where he was headed. Using her strength and gymnast skills that were a natural part of her being an elf she easily climbed the tall statue enough to see above the crowd for a ways away. She spotted Quatre, and saw that he was yelling frantically, and then she squinted and saw the dead on the ground. Immediately she jumped down gracefully and weaved her way through the crowds. About halfway there there was an explosion of some sort and people stopped moving around so much, making it easier for Claudine to rush towards Quatre. She heard a loud call for the fighting to stop and just missed being clipped by a guy who was magickally thrown back, from wind, she guessed.   
    Before she pierced the crowd she could sense Quatre's aura was radiating through the air, and feared that he had overexerted himself and would soon come down with a backlash right before the attack. The one thing she could thank him for is that he had gotten the crowd's attention. However, he had, by the crowd's reaction, been discovered as a mage. She arrived at Quatre's side just in time for his eyes to shut against dizziness and to waver and kneel into her for support. She would have begun her speech at the crowd as soon as she let him down… if Wufei hadn't of got there first.   
    His words were spoken with such passion that a translation wasn't really needed; he definitely took the crowd's attention temporarily off Quatre. "You all disgust me! You disgust me because I know you realize what you are doing, and you do it anyway. Aren't you people supposed to be peaceful? Just what exactly is peaceful or willful or right, good or safe, about mob mentality? You should know that your country is in danger, and your very way of life is at stake, never mind your _lives_. What do you do to remedy this; you fight each other! You are going to get nowhere. Do you think you will be happy under Zodiac? Is it worth dismissing all of your beliefs just to be unhappy?!" People seemed ashamed at his tone, and jerked back in reaction to the largely recognizable sounds of 'good' and 'right'.   
    Claudine opened her mouth to agree and-   
    "He's right!" Sally spoke in trade language, "Even if you are afraid that you might loose, even if you will loose, it isn't worth killing your fellow countrymen and abandoning peace to be cowardly!"   
    "What?!" Mei Ran and Wufei asked at the same time.   
    "If you're guaranteed to lose-"   
    "What's the point of fighting if-" they started arguing in their own language with Sally as Claudine took over.   
    "And it isn't guaranteed that we will lose!" She had set Quatre down and took the stage with a commanding voice. "If you choose to fight off Zodiac for your principles and freedom, then you will receive help from the Southern Republic! It isn't as far away as you might think! If we start now and work together then we can create a defense for this town. I can provide you with weapons, and I am an experienced commander. If you agree to help, and we hold them off for long enough I could send for enforcements and the stand could start here. We don't have to let Zodiac take over our surrounding countries and be boxed in, we could start the war to stop them in their tracks right now, and it starts with your decision. Are you going to give up on everything? On hope when there's hope to spare? Or will you fight for what is right, your chance at freedom, and your beliefs?"   
    Claudine had to argue with some skeptics about Heero Yuy's ideals, supplies, training, the odds and strategy, but in the end they won the people's support, they gained many new allies that day. Including two foreigners and an alleged fairy.   
  
  
  


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I just need one thing feedback wise (I'm actually very pleased with this chapter) and that is that the next chapter will also have W/MR/S/Q/C, do you want the chapter AFTER that one to continue with them, or for me to take a chapter to check out Heero? Just to warn, if you choose Heero you might end up wanting to see what happens to the Cuatrica gang. You have until after I post the next chapter to decide, but the sooner you tell me the easier it will be for me.   
Thank you for your help, I know I have some readers out there that will actually respond ^.^ ja!   
-MaraJadeblu 


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